Thursday, September 4, 2008

What A Week It Has Been So Far For "Rachel Getting Married"...

First, let's start off with the terrible poster that was just released today that looks like a poster that was meant for a made for tv movie from 1998. Lets hope that this poster is meant just for the festivals and they come up with a much better poster soon!



But now that I got that off my chest, Rachel Getting Married just premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and boy what a reaction it got! It is being called a "breath of fresh air" after all the lacklusters that have been premiering there so far in the main competition. Review after review, Anne Hathaway is getting MAJOR Oscar buzz for her role as Kym, the sister from hell who has been in and out of rehab and shows up for her sister's wedding.

Rosemarie DeWitt, who plays Rachel, the sister, has also earned major Oscar buzz as well for Best Supporting Actress, with Kris Tapley at In Contention saying:

"Top honors go to Ms. Dewitt, who harnesses her character’s hypocrisies while maintaining an even keel within Lumet’s most complex creation. She approaches the warmth of sisterly familiarity and the sizzle of bridezilla conceit with equal aplomb, making for the film’s most fully realized performance."

The Times Online also had this to add (http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article4668737.ece):

"Hathaway was matched in the film by Rosemarie DeWitt (best known for her role in the television series Mad Men) as Rachel, the sister who resents the fact that Kym’s demons look set to upstage her wedding. Witty, insightful and poignant..."

And The Star adding this (http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/FilmFest/article/488130):


"Jonathan Demme smartly directs Hathaway and DeWitt in a championship tussle of raging talents, the prize being likely nominations for both women when award season rolls around."


Debra Winger has also been recieving some buzz, but even though her role is "small," it is being called "memorable," as she plays the matriarch of this dysfunctional family.

And with critics going ga-ga over RGM, let's see what some have to say:

Over at Screen Daily (http://www.screendaily.com/ScreenDailyArticle.aspx?intStoryID=40522):

Hand-held, free-wheeling and at times joyously spontaneous, the dogme-like Rachel Getting Married sees Jonathan Demme paying tribute to Robert Altman (in particular A Wedding) but there's such a large dose of music in here it almost forms a genre of its own... Packed with superb performances, in particular from Anne Hathaway in the lead role and Debra Winger in a small supporting turn she makes memorable, Rachel Getting Married will undoubtedly be up for awards consideration in the major categories.

And at The Times Online (http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/film_reviews/article4670206.ece):

A mercurial handheld camera flits through the family home, picking up on the subtle ebb and flow of tensions and recriminations, the anxieties that weigh on the family thanks to the presence of the chaotic, damaged, self-described “Shiva the destroyer”. The screenplay, by Jenny Lumet, is smart, spiky and observant. She has a knack of dropping unexpected revelations into scenes that send the film off into new directions.

It’s remarkable that, given how deeply unsympathetic and self-obsessed her character is for much of the film, Hathaway manages to make her so likeable.

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