Pierced to the Heart

Is the film worth your time?

Rachel Getting Married is in many ways a hard film to watch because of the numerous angles on family and personal dysfunction that it explores. The film has a unedited-home-video style and meditative tone that one must go with or the film will feel overly long. Still, for those that enter the film’s world, engage with the characters, and go with the flow of its long sequences that bring out joy amidst the pain, the film’s exploration might help us see patterns of dysfunction — and joy — in our own lives. We may not have the same dysfunctions as the Buchmans do, but we have enough of our own, and might come away with a bit more patience and love in the face of them. Rachel Getting Married is worth the watch, but it’s not a feel good film.

Kym is getting out of rehab just in time to be in her sister Rachel’s wedding. From the start, we see Kym’s forceful, impatient, and impulsive personality. We also see that issues — and love — run deep in the family. One by one, the issues erupt at the surface. When they do, it feels like we are there in the room. But we also see life and joy — and pain — in extended sequences of parties and interactions before and after the wedding. Some of the issues come to a head and others are left hanging as we get a look inside the Buchman’s lives, and perhaps inside our own lives. Running time: 113 min.

Rachel Getting Married involves drug addiction, language, a brief sexual tryst, and many instense relational confrontations.

• Director: Jonathan Demme
• Screenplay: Jenny Lumet
• Leads: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Anisa George, Mather Zickel, Tunde Adebimpe, Debra Winger
• Cinematography: Declan Quinn
• Music: Donald Harrison Jr., Zafer Tawil

• Info on IMDb
• Reviews on Rottentomatoes (86%)
• Reviews on Metacritic (82 of 100)
• Review at Christianity Today Movies (3 of 4)
• Review at Cinematical
• Review by Brandon Fibbs
• Buy Rachel Getting Married DVD on Amazon.com
• Go to the Netflix page
• Go to the Blockbuster page

 October 14, 2009, 03:59 UTC (updated October 14, 2009, 03:59 UTC)
  Post a comment. If you have your own site, you can trackback, though pings are preferred.
 Follow comments on the talk via:  RSS — Atom.

NOTE: Although Quick talks don't have spoilers, comments below MAY have spoilers
(spoilers are allowed because Quick talks don't have a corresponding After viewing talk for discussing the film)