the amazing women of 2008

Review: Rachel Getting Married

October 4th, 2008
Written By: Mike Rot
Rachel Getting Married

Director: Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs)
Writer: Jenny Lumet
Starring: Anne Hathaway, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mather Zickel, Debra Winger
MPAA Rating: R
Running time: 114 min

As I had the good fortune to catch Jonathan Demme’s latest film, Rachel Getting Married, without knowing the slightest bit about it, this review shall tread lightly over the plot so that the full effect of its unraveling is felt as it was for me. All you need to know is that Anne Hathaway plays Kym, a recovering drug addict who has taken leave from her rehabilitation center to attend her sister’s wedding and confront the demons that await her there.

Demme appreciates the tacit dimension of the wedding ritual as something most of us have endured at some point either as participants or witnesses, and a lot can be conveyed just by the attempt at recording the mundane components of it. Long-winded speeches and the cutting of the cake become rituals tinged with a sense of alienating joy that is masterfully conveyed by lingering on them, and even when Kym is not onscreen we know that she is somewhere in the room, and she is feeling its divisive power. The ratcheted tension of the dress rehearsal speeches as Kym musters up the confidence to make her own toast is perhaps on par with anything in Funny Games as one of the most nerve-wracking moments I have experienced in the cinema this year.

Minimal by design, the film is handheld digital with plenty of jump cuts, using predominately one location, and coyly employing the situated music of the rehearsals and impromptu performances as a makeshift score (the groom, both in real life as a member of Tv on the Radio and in this story, is a musician by trade and his entourage of friends and family come packing instruments). As the music fills the cavernous halls of her childhood home, Kym darts around the house like a ghost surrounded by the celebrations of the living, her very presence opening unhealed wounds which are furtively captured by Demme’s camera. Back story is withheld and threaded out throughout the film giving every reaction to Kym an inflection of mystery. Demme plays off expectations throughout (the hair salon scene being a notable example) and by the time the family history had been completely exposed my allegiances to certain family members had shifted more than once.

Rachel Getting Married is unabashedly direct and confrontational with its drama, while at the same time periodically pulling back and making an observational study of the whole ceremony, with our protagonist in amongst the crowds as a piece of the scenery. I am sure this technique has been done before but for some reason in this context it felt revolutionary. Demme gives us the pageantry, the warmth of a loving reception, but also gives us its wrought underbelly, shows us the pins, the rehearsal of bliss, the sadness of those incapable of living up to familial ideals. Dysfunction here in a boldly liberal well-to-do family depicted without ridicule nor played for subtext, may rub some people the wrong way, may confuse others, but for me it defies categorization, in much the way its depiction of the prodigal daughter defies conventions. Kym’s story emerges and submerges throughout the course of the film, battling for attention onscreen with the interests of Rachel and her wedding (the title being a direct reference to this conflict) but Demme never lets the story be entirely about Kym, there is a dueling banjos nature to the storytelling that is fascinating to watch.

In this respect it differs from something like Margot at the Wedding, where despite both films being chiefly about dysfunctional sister relationships on the eve of one’s nuptials, Rachel Getting Married is far more ambitious with its storytelling, it does pathos unflinchingly and not just to be edgy, but it is also not afraid to immerse its protagonist’s voice into a wider world of observation, to not merely be subject but object, as in fact we all are, and in the process make Kym bereft of a complexity that the caricature of Margot lacked. To make a character who is a former drug addict more than a caricature is a feat in itself, and I will say it now because it is the elephant in the room: Anne Hathaway’s performance is a revelation, Kym is a revelation. Rather than the obvious jaded attendee of addict meetings and detractor of societal mores, Kym shows her vulnerability in doses; neither shrill nor a compilation of tics, she exists as a formidable sister/daughter that is trapped in her own bubble, close to love and reconciliation but only enough to feel the distance. It is at times agonizing to watch a family so incapable of connecting but it is also dead honest about the way habitual emotions can over time enslave us. This is the sort of lived-in family drama that usually takes seasons of HBO programming to get to, and here, in a matter of a couple of hours, such depths are tapped.

Rachel Getting Married is my favorite film of the year thus far by a fair margin, it is lodged in my mind and will not come out. I can see the Criterion Collection edition cover already: Kym’s vantage point from a bedroom window peering into the backyard, a wedding tent in assembly, a band in rehearsal, a black poodle ambling across the lawn, the fissures of all life’s plans out in the open for anyone with the patience to see.

56 response about Review: Rachel Getting Married »

  1. An excellent review, and I greatly appreciate your restraint in not revealing any more than is absolutely necessary. I look forward to discovering the film too.

    Comment by Derek Blackbird — October 4, 2008 @ 3:47 pm

  2. looking forward to this, even though to date I’ve found Anne Hathaway annoying in the same way I generally don’t go out of my way to see what Julia Roberts does.

    Stylistically, what I’ve seen reminds a bit of Noah Baumbach for some reason. I watched Margot at the Wedding today for the second time, its a lot less tense and uncomfortable the second time, and knowing what happens actually made it considerably more dryly funny. I tend to think MATW may be one of the more underrated movies of the last couple years.

    Comment by Goon — October 4, 2008 @ 8:57 pm

  3. To her credit, I hardly noticed it was Anne Hathaway, the character of Kym is far more prominent, she just dredges up people I know or have known and any of the hotness of the actress is completely extinguished in this film, Kym has a genuinely pathetic sadness about her, even as she feigns happiness.

    I like Margot at the Wedding for what it is, it has smaller ambitions than Rachel Getting Married, but it fulfills them nonetheless. It is about Margot and it stays on her, where I think Kym has a chance to be seen directly and indirectly, to appreciate her as part of the crowd and as someone you know, and this only enhances her development as a character. I am still trying to think of a film that has done this… I know in literature my favorite book, Dostoevsky’s Note From Underground takes a similar diptych approach (here is what the character thinks, and here is how the character acts). It is such an underused technique at fleshing out character, to have them not propelling plot forward with dialogue, to just be … ah Lost in Translation does it a bit, the scenes of Bill Murray at the parties, you are not hearing his speeches, you see him as part of a group, you are getting this sidelong look at the character behaving in a social environment… like the cameras are off or something. Gosford Park to an extent does this as well.

    Comment by rot — October 5, 2008 @ 7:45 am

  4. I am using whatever cache I may have and resort to pleading: please go see this film! I do not want it to go the way of Little Children obscurity, this is far too good a film to be missed. I just came back from a second viewing and I feel even stronger about it.

    Demme for Best Director
    Hathaway for Best Actress
    Lumet for Best Writing

    Comment by rot — October 9, 2008 @ 7:31 pm

  5. You’ve sold me, rot. I’m aiming on seeing this after the holidays.

    Comment by Kurt Halfyard — October 9, 2008 @ 8:21 pm

  6. It’s on my ‘must-see’ as well. I’m only hoping it eventually plays somewhere in my area (thus far, it hasn’t).

    Comment by Dave — October 10, 2008 @ 3:43 am

  7. I would also say do not be dissuaded by the very bad stills they have made for promotion of the film, including the two used on this site. They have glossed up everything giving the illusion that this is some kind of Hollywood wedding film, when in fact it is very handheld digital. The filmmaking is more in spirit with Once then My Best Friend’s Wedding.

    Comment by rot — October 10, 2008 @ 7:06 am

  8. Finally caught this yesterday. WOW. Wow. wow. Top ten of the year easily. Comparing this movie to Margot at the Wedding is almost blasphemous as Rachel is so far above and beyond that movie it’s ridiculous.

    The way the back story is slowly revealed is fantastically conveyed both emotionally and structurally. While one might not be able to empathize with any of these characters, you certainly can sympathize with them. Unlike Margot in which I pretty much just hated every character.

    And who is this beautiful new-comer who plays Rachel (Rosemarie DeWitt)? I’d never seen her before but her performance was most triumphant. Want more soon. I will see this again soon.

    The only complaint I have, and it’s a minor one, is that I’d take a scissors to a bit of the post-nuptial reception. Partly because it’s a bit too long and unnecessary, but also because it is kind of ridiculously grandiose.

    Otherwise… brilliant.

    Comment by Andrew James — October 24, 2008 @ 8:15 am

  9. What made you think you were supposed to like the characters in MATW?

    Comment by Goon — October 24, 2008 @ 8:16 am

  10. The entire cast was awesome and that may take away a bit from the oscar buzz of Anne Hathaway, who while great in the role, was working amongst actors at the top of their game.

    do you mean the pre-nuptial reception? That was long but I think it was deliberate… again going back to my idea of the dueling banjos approach to storytelling in the film… if you notice Demme does not end on Kym’s toast (the obvious build-up point), her character gets submerged again by the importance of the wedding, and further toasts continue. I loved that.

    Comment by rot — October 24, 2008 @ 9:32 am

  11. Most decidedly you’re not supposed to like the characters. When I don’t have at least one protagonist in a film, I’m generally not going to have a positive vibe about the movie. “The Other Boleyn Girl” and “WAO Virginia Woolfe” are two other films like this that come to mind. Maybe some great writing and performances, but if I hate all of the people, then I’m inclined to hate the movie too.

    But beyond that - The film (Rachel) is just told so much more convincingly and with less quirk and more truth.

    Comment by Andrew James — October 24, 2008 @ 9:44 am

  12. Rot, no I meant the POST reception. Way too much dancing and music and it seemed a bit pointless.

    No no no, the PRE-nuptial reception is essential to the film. Loved that bit.

    Comment by Andrew James — October 24, 2008 @ 9:46 am

  13. but that is how weddings are, ones I have been to… they drag on, and while I know there are people who make arguments that drama needs to choose the bits to keep in of life, I think the point Demme makes is to relish in the details, feel the underbelly of the celebration particularly as Kym exists like an outsider of it.

    I saw the film twice and I will go on record as saying I thought it was a perfect film from start to finish.

    Comment by rot — October 24, 2008 @ 9:53 am

  14. “I thought it was a perfect film from start to finish.”

    Then why 4.5/5 stars? Why not 5? I agree with the 4.5 only because of my aforementioned complaint (which is very minor).

    I have been to a lot of weddings. A few with very rich people. I’ve never seen one that comes close to resembling that one. Seriously. Who hires a band to play for three days straight? The belly dancers and the whole she-bang completely reminded me I was watching a movie with how ridiculous it was. It was like Demme just felt like taking a detour from the movie and seeing how big of a production/spectacle he could put on.

    Comment by Andrew James — October 24, 2008 @ 11:29 am

  15. 5 is reserved for films that completely devastate me, it is a very high standard that not much really gets to. 4.5 is for a perfect film that just did not have that little bit extra personal attachment for me to go to 5.

    yeah but forget the spectacle aspect of it, weddings are about long winded speeches and music going on far too long, and people looking tipsy and sometimes bored, and all of the little details that Demme picks up on… that it happens to be one of the most interesting spectacle weddings is just icing.

    Comment by rot — October 24, 2008 @ 11:43 am

  16. Andrew, Rosemarie DeWitt appears to be a regular on Mad Men…

    I am two episodes into this show and I am not seeing the greatness yet.

    Comment by rot — November 3, 2008 @ 11:55 am

  17. Just saw Rachel Getting Married again. I’ve changed my mind. It is not a 4.5 star film. It is a 5 star film. First one of the year for me.

    My minor gripe is so minor that it doesn’t even matter and the second time through I was prepared for it and didn’t een notice it - just enjoyed it. I would watch this again when it hits DVD.

    Comment by Andrew James — November 3, 2008 @ 9:53 pm

  18. I found it better the second time around too. And I was serious in my review, this is the sort of film I expect a Criterion Collection edition to be made of.

    Comment by rot — November 3, 2008 @ 10:17 pm

  19. Dang. I want this to come out in the ‘Burbs.

    By the way, Mike Leigh’s HAPPYGOLUCKY is a bloody fantastic film, like an inverted version of Naked, where Polly spends much of her time futilely trying to build people up, rather than Johnnie spending his time tearing people down.

    It was nearly a perfect movie until the hamfisted final 3 minutes. Ouch. Could we get any more blunt?

    Comment by kurt — November 4, 2008 @ 7:18 am

  20. This film is Genius! I loved the disorienting nature of ‘what the hell is going on’ as soon as Kym arrives in house.

    I love the first time Kym hugs her sister she has the fitting pins of her wedding dress poke her. A perfect metaphor for the relationship between the sisters and how they attempt/withhold their love from one another due to circumstance and life-outlook.

    One of the best films of the year indeed!

    Comment by kurt — November 10, 2008 @ 7:35 am

  21. I also like that the very first scene gives you the ‘cliche’ of what one would expect a recovering drug addict to be, all snarky and edgy, and then the rest of the film blows that notion out of the water with the wealth of contrary emotions she contains. You have a liberal well-to-do family and it is not played up for comment, it just is. Demme and Lumet are anticipating every preconceived notion throughout (again I say the Hair Salon scene) and turning them on their head.

    I am still waiting for a dissenting voice on this film.

    Comment by rot — November 10, 2008 @ 8:12 am

  22. Sadly traffic and an early start time (9:45pm) made me miss the opening credits. I walked in the theatre just as Kym was walking into the front door of her Dad’s house.

    This is the first time (outside of festivals) since the 1980s that I walked into a movie (that I’d paid for) late.

    Did I miss much at the beginning?

    Also, funny I was thinking ‘French movie’ for the bourgeois family and how filmmakers like Haneke usually tear this type of thing a new one, and lo and behold, reading your above review, it looks I’m not alone in that one. I loved Demmes overall ‘almost a home movie’ almost a Hollywood lit movie approach, it was disorienting and ‘chaotic’ in all the right ways to reflect the characters.

    And what’s up with Debra Winger. I didn’t even recognize it was her until the end credits. What a great performance too. Everyone is so good in this, Bill Irwin rocked as the dad, the actress playing Rachel and the girl playing Rachel’s best friend were both amazing.

    Anne Hathaway, an actress who I generally could care less about (have no interesting in 95% of the films she is in) simply knocks things out of the park as Kym. So good that I hope she considers more of these types of films and fewer ‘putting cars in the garage’ type films like Get Smart and Princess Diaries sequels.

    Comment by kurt — November 10, 2008 @ 8:46 am

  23. you missed Kym being picked up at the center, some words with her nurse, which come full circle when she returns at the end, and then a car ride to the house.

    I only recognized Debra Winger when she and Rachel were alone watching the rain, and it was only when she smiled…

    Comment by rot — November 10, 2008 @ 9:20 am

  24. “I love the first time Kym hugs her sister she has the fitting pins of her wedding dress poke her. A perfect metaphor for the relationship between the sisters and how they attempt/withhold their love from one another due to circumstance and life-outlook.”

    And then they hug again anyway. You are right.

    Comment by Andrew James — November 10, 2008 @ 9:39 am

  25. It is a real testament into the control that went into the chaos of this film.

    Reminds me of John Goodman talking about the Big Lebowski and the Coen brothers. Each “Um”, “er” and other stutters in his conversations with The Dude and Donnie apparently was in the script and rigidly enforced by the directors.

    In Rachel, the jump-cuts, hand held, and studio-styled shots are blended into a hypnotic (yet very subtle) style which absolutely works with the subject matter. What a success! And that is only a minor detail compared to the script, performances and acting in the film. This thing is a 5/5 easily.

    Comment by Kurt — November 10, 2008 @ 10:15 am

  26. The writer is the daughter of Sidney Lumet, go figure a first script like this has to come from a talented gene pool.

    My favorite bit of cutting is when you know the big argument is about to happen, and Kym asks why the band has to keep playing music all weekend, and you see doors closing around the room as things take a turn for the worst. That kind of accidental intensification of the drama is great.

    Comment by rot — November 10, 2008 @ 10:37 am

  27. Saw it today. How can anyone dislike this movie? I thought of it less like a film and more of a full experience. You just get so soaked in and involved and just plain THERE. Sure there are moments where the drama gets amped up that makes it more of a movie, but the things like say, the extended reception and the extended wedding rehearsal and speeches really put the voyeuristic feel to 11. I think it may be just arty enough to be out of reach of a Best Picture nomination, yet if that is true I’ll be very upset. a full 5/5 from me.

    Comment by Goon — November 22, 2008 @ 7:08 pm

  28. btw, one of the biggest surprises for me, is that the singer of one of my favorite bands, TV on the Radio, is Sidney, the groom. So quiet and mumbly and real, he and so much of the supporting cast did such a great job grounding this whole thing.

    Comment by Goon — November 22, 2008 @ 7:09 pm

  29. Thus far, this is the one of the few UNANIMOUSLY LOVED films here at Row Three. In fact, I’ve not met anyone who has seen this and disliked it yet. I’m hoping to go to the cinema one more time before it leaves and catch it. I’m even going to break my “CINEPLEX” embargo to do that, as the print playing at the AMC sad,ly moved on after only a single week.

    Comment by Kurt Halfyard — November 22, 2008 @ 7:18 pm

  30. There tends to be a tipping point where a film gets so much love that inevitably a backlash ensues… we have yet to reach it with this film, although I suspect it is because Rachel Getting Married is not high profile enough, even if on this site it has incredibly high ratings.

    Comment by rot — November 22, 2008 @ 10:11 pm

  31. Goon what do you think of TVOTR’s Dear Science? I think NOW praised it like the second-coming but with the exception of a few songs I think of it as a huge disappointment after Cookie Mountain.

    Comment by rot — November 22, 2008 @ 10:12 pm

  32. Not just now. Pretty much everywhere. Of all the TVOTR albums I actually think Cookie Mountain is the one that was overpraised. I’d been following them since their first EP and was especially all over Angry Youth Bloodthirsty Babes, so when Cookie Mountain came out I found it a bit underwhelming, only in comparison, and wondered why the hell people where just now paying attention.

    That said, the first time I heard Dear Science I was like “er… no” - I found it was all of a sudden too bouncy and dancey and I didn’t get whey they went that route. I did immediately enjoy the second half of the disc, but the first couple tracks were a hard lot to swallow the first go round.

    As it is, the lady of the house is also a huge TVOTR hound and since she doesnt like a million bands like I do, it got play and now I like it enough to say its in my top 5 of the year.. my end of year top 10 is going to be all over the map this year, everything from pop (Robyn) to black metal (Nachtmystium)

    Comment by Goon — November 22, 2008 @ 10:29 pm

  33. I agree about playing Dear Science enough times that some of the songs stick… particularly fond of ‘Family Tree’ and ‘Halfway Home’.

    Comment by rot — November 23, 2008 @ 8:00 am

  34. btw, NOW has got to be the worst newspaper for reviewing music, specifically Tim Perlich. Aside from being a class A snob with nothing in common with his readership, he goes out of his way to give bad reviews to the most well known record of the week, which isn’t itself the end of the world or anything, however will fill his two paragraph review with nothing but snark never once actually talking about the album. Perlich is maybe the one reviewer out there I’d love to take a swing at.

    Comment by Goon — November 23, 2008 @ 9:01 am

  35. know what other album is in my top 10, is a grower, but WONT get its due upon release from anything other than major magazines hedging their bets one what the public will think?

    Chinese Democracy

    honestly :P

    Comment by Goon — November 23, 2008 @ 9:15 am

  36. I usually do an annual top ten songs every year on my blog and this is the one year where I am seriously struggling, I mean it may not be that this has been a bad year per se, I have been preoccupied with other things, but still… has there been any breakout musicians to get excited about?

    and NOW has a lot to answer for more than their music reviews… like I said in an earlier post I am pretty sure they give Memento an unfavorable review when it came out…. and thats just one of their more obvious blunders.

    Comment by rot — November 23, 2008 @ 9:32 am

  37. well I don’t really know your taste but among the Pitchfork crowd Hercules & Love Affair and Toronto’s own Fucked Up were big breakthroughs… I like both of those, however each of them have been around a bit longer than most people know.

    Comment by Goon — November 23, 2008 @ 10:16 am

  38. As I am a musical dunce, post 1999, any of you guys want to send me a list of what I should be listening to these days? Outside of the obvious choices like Radiohead, Feist, Arcade Fire, Sufjan Stevens and Portishead, I’ve not been listening to what is new and exciting out there. If you are so inclined to have a few recommendations, drop me a line at kurt@rowthree.com

    Comment by Kurt Halfyard — November 23, 2008 @ 10:22 am

  39. I’m working on a Cormac McCarthy mixtape, so I will recommend through that when I get it done.

    I am totally out of it, I have never heard of those two groups you speak of Goon.

    Comment by rot — November 23, 2008 @ 12:23 pm

  40. “hercules…” are kind of a modern disco/indie band fronted by a member of Antony and the Johnsons on a number of songs. its very um, well, kinda gay, but in the best way :P

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb8S51M2GAc

    off the top of my head, a number of accessible good indie stuff from the last 5 years…
    Midlake, Muse (who have become a lot more popular recently, kind of stadium space rock), Hot Chip, Steve Burns (the guy from Blues Clues made an album with the Flaming Lips people), The Rapture’s first disc, The Knife, Scissor Sisters are a blue chip pop band, Phoenix, Goldfrapp, Cold War Kids’ first album, Broken Social Scene will lead down a lot of paths, Fiery Furnaces, the Dears, Spoon, Mike Doughty’s first solo stuff, LCD Soundystem, Patrick Wolf, Spinto Band, M.I.A., The Go! Team’s first disc, Caribou, Wolf Parade, The Walkmen, Modest Mouse, !!!, Xiu Xiu, Mclusky, Magnetic Fields, the first Futureheads album, Loretta Lynn’s Jack White produced album, Blonde Redhead, The Concretes, the New Pornographers/AC Newman, the Unicorns, Junior Senior, The Shins, and the Eels, who I love but aren’t necessarily everyones cup of tea.

    If you have a tendency towards any other genres a different list would show up. Maybe you can make a date with some of those bands with their myspace and youtube pages and see if anything turns your crank. I would say of all of them that Broken Social Scene have been extremely influential towards where indie has headed lately.

    If you liked “Once” maybe you should pick up a couple Frames albums or Hansard/Irglova’s actual proper album together.

    Comment by Goon — November 23, 2008 @ 12:42 pm

  41. Kurt, I know you’re a Portishead fan, while I don’t think either of these are as good, most Portishead fans I know will like at least one of this short list: Goldfrapp, BabyFox, Hooverphonic, Morcheeba

    Comment by Goon — November 23, 2008 @ 12:45 pm

  42. (BabyFox are hard to find these days any other way than downloading)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-tg3LlFoUs

    Comment by Goon — November 23, 2008 @ 12:46 pm

  43. The Walkmen are awesome. Never been a Muse fan, and thought they dropped the ball with the Watchmen trailer using their song.

    Most of those you listed are on my ipod but nothing I really care too much for, more online exploration results.

    Dylan, Cohen, Radiohead, Those are the biggies of my tastes.

    Comment by rot — November 23, 2008 @ 1:08 pm

  44. I always thought Muse were okay but didnt really become a fan until I saw them live, as they were one of the bands at V-Fest a few years back. Sometimes seeing a band live can change everything about them for you. Another band that is like that for me is a Dutch goth-metal band called Within Temptation. After seeing the DVD they put out this year with a symphony they have become one of my favorite bands, when otherwise before that to me they just seemed like Kelly Clarkson meets Evanescence.

    So now when I heard them in the Watchmen trailer, from where I stood it was “bout time someone used that song”. Remember the couple years where every action movie had White Zombie’s “More Human Than Human” in it?

    Comment by Goon — November 23, 2008 @ 1:14 pm

  45. Goon: I own all of the Hooverphonic and Morcheeba albums and Goldfrapp works in fits and starts for me. But I’ll definitely check out BABYFOX.

    Thanks huge. It is great any time I discover a sweet new trip-hop throwback (Zero7 & Sneaker Pimps are also great, if a little long-in-the-tooth at this point)

    Comment by kurt — November 23, 2008 @ 5:13 pm

  46. How much thought do you think went into the title of this movie? I mean, on one level you could say “Kym isnt a very good name for a title. Kym at the Wedding? Not much of a ring. Rachel is a good sounding name.” - I would hope to think its really simply that Kym thinks herself the centre of attention even at her sisters wedding, so the title is supposed to remind everyone that its not all about her, and that she’s going to have to get over that…

    Comment by Goon — November 23, 2008 @ 7:28 pm

  47. rot, here’s my breakout band of the year: Grand Archives. Another really exciting band to come out this year is Why?

    I am a fan of Muse, but even more of a fan of The Walkmen. I saw them open up for Spoon last spring, I was about 10 feet from the stage and The Walkmen put on an even better show than Spoon (which is one of my favorite bands).

    Kurt, at least as far as my tastes go, these are some new and extremely exciting bands that haven’t been mentioned yet. You can check out their Last.fms or MySpaces to hear them:

    1. Band of Horses (couldn’t give a higher recommendation)
    2. Elbow (couldn’t give a higher recommendation)
    3. Calexico
    4. The Black Keys
    5. MGMT
    6. Gomez
    7. The Appleseed Cast
    8. Okkervil River
    9. Beirut
    10. The Kooks

    Comment by Jonathan B. — November 23, 2008 @ 7:31 pm

  48. “How much thought do you think went into the title of this movie?”

    well I made a point in my review that I think the title is important because if you look at how the film is structured it works with this weird friction, its like the camera’s attention oscillates between the wedding and Kym, causing a dueling banjos effect, and ‘Rachel Getting Married’ is the unusual element to this kind of story, this veering away from the more obvious story, its like not even the title is willing to give in to the one fixed viewpoint. Also Rachel getting Married is the surface event that is happening while the deeper issues percolate beneath the surface.

    and Jonathan, we definitely have similar tastes in music… in fact black keys has a song on my Cormac mixtape already, in fact THE song for the Judge no less.

    I gotta see the Walkmen live, I’m sure they make it to Toronto occasionally.

    Comment by rot — November 23, 2008 @ 8:01 pm

  49. My one big find of this year is Eluvium, but I think he has been around since 2003, although the album I am interested in is 2007. never been much for ambient music, but this guy kicks all sorts of ass.

    Comment by rot — November 23, 2008 @ 8:04 pm

  50. Well I’ve been through quite a number of Calexico tracks over the past year and change, and yea, they are solid. The rest I’ll sort of start to hunt down and check out. Music Recommendations (and Book recommendations) are always welcome because far too much of my time is in the obscure corners of cinemaland.

    Comment by kurt — November 23, 2008 @ 8:08 pm

  51. Finish your Cormac McCarthy trilogy and read Blood Meridian… I am almost tempted to read it again with the foreknowledge of Field directing, but it is not something to breeze through.

    Next on my reading list is Philip K Dick’s Valis.

    Comment by rot — November 24, 2008 @ 10:04 am

  52. Oooo, can we transition this from music to books now?

    Undoubtedly, Cormac McCarthy is my favorite modern author. I’d rank Blood Meridian, The Crossing (I plan to teach this at some point if I decide to get certified in English), All the Pretty Horses, Cities of the Plain, Child of God, The Orchard Keeper, No Country for Old Men, and The Road all among my favorite books. I have copies of Suttree and Outer Dark just begging to be read on my bookshelf right now too. McCarthy is one of those very, very rare authors that can change your outlook on life. I can think of very few authors that have affected me as much with their writing.

    The other day I just finished reading Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov, the most brilliantly written disturbing book I’ve ever read and I’m onwards to Philip Roth’s The Dying Animal right now. There is a pretty cool site called Good Reads, which is more or less just a Flixster or Last.fm with books. Feel free to make a profile and add me, it’s a pretty cool site to monitor yourself and see what everybody else is reading.

    rot - you ever read any of Philip K. Dick’s other stuff? I read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? which was fantastic and got me into a really interesting discussion with one of my friends on the story Dick wrote vs. the film that it inspired.

    Comment by Jonathan B. — November 24, 2008 @ 4:39 pm

  53. I read Man from the High Castle and A Scanner Darkly, I think that is it for Dick.

    Jon, have you read the wiki page for Blood Meridian? its pretty interesting stuff… I mean I remember reading the ending but I do not quite remember how it is described on wikipedia. Apparently he pulled a No Country move that I entirely missed.

    Comment by rot — November 24, 2008 @ 4:48 pm

  54. Hmm… what exactly don’t you remember about the end?

    BLOOD MERIDIAN SPOILERS

    Do you mean the kid’s death at the hands of the Judge? That is how I remember it happening, although if I remember correctly, McCarthy does not refer to him as “the kid” in this part of the story. If I am not mistaken, I think they refer to him as “the man” and you are supposed to infer that it is simply the kid grown up. I definitely did not think that Judge raped him though, only killed him - although I can see the argument now that I’ve read that wiki. And it is arguable why McCarthy didn’t describe the scene anyway (just as it can be argued why he didn’t describe the similar scene in No Country).

    It is definitely a book I plan to revisit again - and probably again and again throughout my life. But like you said, it isn’t an easy book to get through, despite how enjoyable and rewarding it is.

    Comment by Jonathan B. — November 24, 2008 @ 5:10 pm

  55. uh, yeah that part. I kinda knew what happened but the way Cormac writes I sort of got lost in the poetics and the transition from that scene to what follows blurs, and I forgot that in retrospect you never KNOW what happens in the outhouse. I love how wiki speaks of its absence and the reaction shots as suggestions of something so horrendous that it goes beyond the pale of everything that has transpired thus far… thats kinda funny when you think about it.

    I really like the epilogue, and going by Field’s end shot of Little Children I can almost guarentee Blood Meridian the film will end on Cormac’s epilogue, its just a perfect image, a kind of futility of spirit last jab, or depending on your disposition, maybe a sign of hope for humanity.

    Comment by rot — November 24, 2008 @ 7:48 pm

  56. It is easy to get lost in the poetics of Cormac’s writing, that is for sure. But yes, the epilogue. I can envision it so clearly in my mind, I can’t wait to see what Field or Ridley or whoever the hell directs it does with it.

    Comment by Jonathan B. — November 25, 2008 @ 7:19 pm

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