Rachel Getting Married (2008) (2nd viewing)

A young woman who has been in and out from rehab returns home for the weekend for her sister's wedding. [imdb]

Nominated for 1 Oscar:

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Anne Hathaway

My oh my. How do I start here?! First of all, I've watched it again, so that I could do the profile of Anne for the other blog (soon). I won't go into too many details right now. The film itself felt better upon a second viewing. Watching it again also allows you to notice the details in Anne's performance and the small tricks that the screenplay has (the lighted candle on the pool for example).

The screenplay is far from perfect; I can only think of how underused Debra Winger (the mother) is. But it's a strong drama, deliberately uncomfortable at moments, it has its chill scenes, some cheesy stuff, an excellent direction and strong performances. It did deserve more than one nomination, but I guess its campaign wasn't strong enough and it's also not your typical Oscar movie (you know, it has no indian kids or lots of moving images).

In my opinion, the film also deserved 2 nominations for Best Supporting Actress: Rosemarie DeWitt as Rachel (the good sister who's getting married) and Debra Winger as the mother, the most mysterious character of the film, in a very cold performance that in the end steals the show (to me, it's the most interesting character of the film; was she like this before the tragedy or is her attitude a consequence?). Also love the cinematography & soundtrack and I would probably also nominate Bill Irwin for Supporting Actor (playing the father).

My rating for the film: 8/10. I don't know why not more; I guess because I dislike Kym, the lead. Who knows, it might change. A must see anyway.