rachel's hitched

no. 38 Rachel Getting Married

First off, straight up art film, don't let anyone try to convince you otherwise. Most folks won't know what the hell to think of this film when there is so much "down time", if you will, in comparison to commercial linear filmmaking. In fact, the wedding alone will be a bewilderment to nearly all of boring white bread america.

Loved it, every bit. Anne Hathaway finally shows us what she's made of, the potential within to truly be more than a half-wit, silly girl, beautiful goddess on a red carpet, etc. I know she's got some interesting things in the works (hello Alice in Wonderland!), I cannot wait to see where she can go from here. I'm giving the girl props, but don't think I'm saying she's standing next to Kate. Maybe someday, but there are alot of other girls at the lateral.

Personal note, I had a hard time watching this. I get the round peg/square hole. You never fit, no matter what you try, it won't work, ever. I could feel her pain, her isolation, her self hatred. Although I could truly identify with Kym, I know Rachel. Rachel goes on and on about how no one pays any attention to her. Her father is obsessed with Kym, everything begins and ends with worry over her. Rachel feels pushed to the outside because everyone knows Kym's past, her actions, her public declaration of her illness and attempts toward recovery.

I'm Rachel as much as I'm Kym. My shit is out there, my illness, my attempts toward living a life in recovery and my family ignores it. I wish I could say it was the elephant in the room, but they really don't give two shits. It's never been about me, no matter how I may ask for help. If you don't pick up that Rachel cannot connect and pulls herself away from the action, you're missing half the movie. She's hoping her mother will validate the previous evening's altercation but she won't. It took her that many years to acknowledge her oversight, she'll never allow Kym to know or feeling anything more, she's too closed off herself. As if she isn't already pushed to the real point of alienation from her mother, Kym will never allow herself to have a real connection without irony, even at the end, when someone who has been there, reaches out, she still can't take his hand.

The mere fact that little Anne Hathaway was able to convey this when people who go through this, who live this, have such a difficult time putting a real face on the feelings/emotions/pain? Wow, I do have a heart-on for her.

Edit: I got so wrapped up in how this made me feel (isn't that what art is supposed to do?) that I failed to mention the amazing acting, the writing, the musicians! This felt like what family is, I've been to that wedding, walked those steps, had those arguments, told the musicians to shut the fuck up! The family dynamic - I wonder what didn't make it to the screen play, all the back story. Sounds like they might have lived in Chicago, Kym was a teen model, started getting really fucked up by the time she was 13, if she was stoned on Special K while on the covershoot for Seventeen...I can imagine her mom being all stage mommy, overbearing. She's beautiful, so she might have had a career. Dad is way too flighty, on this side of gay, maybe he was an actor? As for Rachel? Doesn't matter, she getting married into TV on the Radio, like the best band today! ha!