“Rachel Getting Married” is a Home Movie Work of Art

I often drive eighty miles over to Tallahassee to see independent and foreign films at the Regal Miracle Five movie theater on Thomasville Road. Admittedly, eighty miles is a long way to travel for a movie, but the only time I’ve ever been disappointed was the one time I arrived to discover that the Internet listing was wrong and the film I drove all that way to see wasn’t there.

The times I actually got to watch the movie I drove over for—movies such as “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,” “November,” “Broken Flowers,” “You, Me, and Everyone we Know,” “The Lives of Others,” “Lonesome Jim”—I always thoroughly enjoyed them, and often left inspired.

Now, added to that list, is Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married.”

Though not as difficult to watch as “SherryBaby,” Demme’s film certainly has its painful moments—watching awkward, addicted, in-denial people interact, particularly in the disturbing dynamic of dysfunctional families can always make an audience uncomfortable.

Watching “Rachel Getting Married” is like stumbling upon the unfiltered, unedited outtakes of someone’s home movies—deleted scenes that somehow didn’t get deleted. We know we should look away, but quickly overtaken by the raw drama, we are unable to, so we stare, transfixed at the slow motion wreck unfolding in front of us.

Demme’s directing is stellar in his best film since “Silence of the Lambs,” and there are many fine performances, but this a breakout for Anne Hathaway, who takes full advantage of the amazing opportunity afforded her by the role of Kym.

When Kym (Anne Hathaway) returns to the Buchman family home for the wedding of her sister, Rachel (Rosemarie Dewitt), she brings a long history of personal crisis and family conflict along with her. The wedding party’s abundant cast of friends and relations have gathered for an idyllic weekend of feasting, music and love, but Kym with her dark, tragic wit and knack for bombshell drama is a catalyst for long-simmering tensions in the family dynamic.

Peopled with the rich and eclectic characters, “Rachel Getting Married”is insightful, perceptive, provocative, profound, and occasionally hilarious. Director Demme, first-time writer Jenny Lumet, and the stellar cast lift this lean family drama into the best of these type movies, and Demme’s best since “Silence of the Lambs.”

Inspired by Dogme 95 films such as “The Celebration” and “The Idiot,” Demme shot “Rachel Getting Married” in HD video instead of film. His goal, “The most beautiful home movie ever made.” He succeeds. “Rachel Getting Married” has the energy, spontaneity, and documentaryesque feel only video can achieve, but it also has the confidence, assurance, beauty, and performances only a skillful old filmmaker can achieve (this is Demme’s 36th film).

Of all the reasons to recommend “Rachel Getting Married” to you, number one on the list is the profoundly painful performance by Anne Hathaway. Kym is not only her best role to date, it may just be the role of a lifetime, and, as if knowing that, Ms. Hathaway embodies the broken young woman to such an extent, she disappears into her.

Go see “Rachel Getting Married” —even if you have to drive eighty miles to do so. For as highly recommended as “Rachel getting Married” is, the Regal Miracle Five is even more so.