Rachel Getting Married (2008)

Directed by Jonathan Demme. Starring Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Bill Irwin, Mather Zickel, Tunde Adebimpe, Debra Winger, Anisa George, Anna Deavere Smith. [R]

Troubled young woman Kym (Hathaway) leaves rehab so she can be there when her sister Rachel (DeWitt) marries the guy from TV on the Radio, the perfect opportunity for painful memories, dysfunctional family arguments, and old wounds to surface. Late-period Demme drama is one of his more intimate and serious, adopting a handheld naturalistic visual style that’s grating at first—characters out of frame, irrationally aggressive closeups, etc.—but settles down as the film progresses and the camera reacts accordingly to how Kym’s world opens up or shrinks. Scripted by Jenny Lumet (Sidney’s daughter) with an ear for realistic dialogue that only occasionally has the fingerprints of writerly contrivance, and ably and authentically played by all the principals, including an eye-opening dramatic turn for Hathaway, proving Brokeback Mountain was no fluke. Sebastian Stan and singer Robyn Hitchcock have small roles; try to spot Demme’s old mentor, Roger Corman, as a wedding guest.

84/100