Rachel Getting Married

There are very few American directors that I would like to see get their groove back as much as Jonathan Demme. The director of such masterworks as Melvin and Howard, Something Wild, Married to the Mob and The Silence of the Lambs will always be a favorite in my book, but it has been a very long time since I have been excited about a new Jonathan Demme film.
I have a strong feeling that Rachel Getting Married might be the film that a lot of us Demme fans have been waiting for. Starring the very special Anne Hathaway and the much missed Debra Winger, Rachel Getting Married looks terrific and many of the early reviews have been quite celebratory in nature.



While I don't harbor the hope this will be quite the grand slam that a production like Married to the Mob or Silence of the Lambs was, I do hope that this puts Demme back on the map as one of our most original American filmmakers.

M.I.A. on Region 1 DVD Tribute Month (Film 27) Jonathan Demme's Last Embrace (1979)

Of the handful of Jonathan Demme films sadly not available on DVD, none are in more need of a release than his terrific 1979 thriller Last Embrace. I just recently got to see the film, and was really impressed by it and found everything from Demme’s controlled and inventive direction to Roy Scheider’s near career best performance to be just revelatory. Featuring the beautiful color photography of Tak Fujimoto and an evocative score by Miklos Rozsa, Last Embrace is yet another one of those masterful lost seventies classics that is deserving of a much wider audience than it has ever been granted.

Since I just finally got the opportunity to watch this film for the first time, I will not attempt any sort of real post. Consider these posters and lobby cards just a reminder that a Region 1 DVD is really needed.

The Jonathan Demme Film Poll

Today marks the release of the long-awaited special edition of Jonathan Demme's brilliant Something Wild, via The Criterion Collection. To celebrate one of my favorite films hitting Criterion I thought a new poll was in order here. It's been awhile since I have done one of these director's polls but, for those who might remember my past ones, the format stays the same. Simply choose your three favorite Demme films from the ones up for grabs and I will post the results in a week or so. You'll notice I haven't included any of Demme's great documentary and musical works, even though I realize that some (especially Stop Making Sense and Swimming to Cambodia) are among his best works. The poll would have been too vast had I included anything but Demme's narrative-driven works, which is why I have gone the route I have.

So give a vote for your three favorite Jonathan Demme works and go out and buy Criterion's edition of Something Wild, one of the truly great works of his career.

Operation Screenshot (Films Of The Seventies) Jonathan Demme's Caged Heat (1974)

The Art of the Movie Poster: Jonathan Demme in the Eighties

Jonathan Demme Poll Results

Thanks to everyone who voted in my Jonathan Demme Poll. Here are the results!



The Silence of the Lambs 43 (67%)

Something Wild 41 (64%)

Melvin and Howard 27 (42%)

Married to the Mob 13 (20%)

Rachel Getting Married 13 (20%)

Caged Heat 11 (17%)

Philadelphia 7 (10%)

Crazy Mama 6 (9%)

Handle With Care 6 (9%)

Swing Shift 5 (7%)

The Manchurian Candidate 5 (7%)

Beloved 5 (7%)

Fighting Mad 4 (6%)

Last Embrace 4 (6%)

The Truth About Charlie 2 (3%)

Home-Viewing Recommendations for March

It looks like March is turning out to be quite the month for the DVD and Blu-ray market with several new and classic films coming out, including two of my favorites from 2010 (Black Swan and The Fighter). With all of the great titles already out or just on the horizon, I wanted to throw some shout-outs to some that I am greatly anticipating (or already enjoying). In no particular order:

Jackson County Jail/Caged Heat: One of March's most exciting releases is this edition of Shout Factory’s continuing Roger Corman collection. Jackson County Jail is solid but the real treat here is the re-release of Jonathan Demme’s terrific Caged Heat starring Erica Gavin, Cheryl Rainbeaux Smith and Roberta Collins. Shout Factory’s DVD not only contains a remastered print of Demme’s important early work but also a new audio commentary with the man himself! Demme is joined on, what I am sure is, an excellent track by cinematographer Tak Fujimoto and Gavin. I can't wait to hear Demme's stories of shooting the film, working with Collins and Smith and, hopefully, telling the story of how John Cale came to score the film.

Out of Sight: One of my favorite films of all time gets the Blu-ray treatment and I hear the results are quite stunning. My copy has been shipped and I can’t wait to spend time with Jack Foley and Karen Sisco in High-Def.

The Walking Dead (Season One): For those that missed AMC’s terrific new series, this DVD and Blu-ray set should prove a perfect opportunity for catch up in anticipation of Season 2.

Love and Other Drugs: I’m not a fan of Edward Zwick’s works typically but I was really taken with this beautifully acted (Anne Hathaway is particularly exceptional here) and well-made romantic drama that is refreshing in the way it approaches modern relationships and sexuality, and for making a rather tired genre feel vibrant again.

Daughters of Darkness: Harry Kumel’s masterful vampire opus starring Delphine Seyrig comes to Blu-ray fully loaded with quite a number of great special features (including the astonishing Blood Spattered Bride as a High-Def bonus film!).




Italian Classic Reissues!: Dario Argento’s wonderful Phenomena starring Jennifer Connelly hits Blu-ray courtesy of Britain’s Arrow label. The picture quality on Arrow’s release is supposed to be a great improvement over past versions and the near hour long documentary is a real selling point as well. Also look for Blue Underground's release of Argento's incredible Inferno as well.
Perfume of a Lady in Black: Francesco Barilli’s stunning giallo starring a brilliant Mimsy Farmer finally hits American DVD courtesy of Raro’s new stateside division. This is one of the best Italian films of the seventies and it is so great to finally see it released here.
The Beyond: Lucio Fulci’s masterpiece finally hits Blu-ray courtesy, again, of Britain’s Arrow label with extras aplenty.
Finally, one of the few films from Antonioni I haven't seen, Le Amiche, is also being released on disc in March. Now if we could only get quality versions of Blow-Up, Zabriskie Point and The Passenger on Blu-ray.

Galaxina: While it may not be the greatest film in the world, Galaxina did offer the much-missed Dorothy Stratten her largest role and I am sure one of our great lost beauties will look even lovelier than ever in High-Def.



The Next Three Days: Forget any prejudices you might have against the films of Crash writer and director Paul Haggis and check out this extremely well-done thriller from last year that mostly slipped under the radar. The always astonishing Russell Crowe gives a jolting and quite haunting performance and Elizabeth Banks proves she is just more than just a great comedian. The Next Three Days is a terrific and intense film that was one of my favorites from 2010 and I highly recommend it.

Dorm that Dripped Blood: One of the early eighties more undervalued slasher's gets the deluxe treatment in this DVD/Blu-ray combo set. I can't wait to throw out my old murky looking full-frame VHS copy.

Even though it came out in February, I also wanted to mention that Bernardo Bertolucci's monumental Last Tango in Paris is now out on Blu-ray. Frustratingly MGM still refuses to give one of cinema's most important films special edition treatment but the picture quality is a big improvement over past version.

Rachel Getting Married

Rachel Getting Married returns Jonathan Demme to the spot where he has belonged for a very long time, namely among the most vital and greatest of all American filmmakers. This searing and heartfelt film, his first non-documentary work in nearly five years, is his best since his triumphant Silence of the Lambs way back in 1991, and one of the greatest of all of his works. Mixing bittersweet comedy with heavy unsettling drama and a sharp directorial hand, Rachel Getting Married is vintage Jonathan Demme and its among the most alive and successful productions of 2008.



It’s no coincidence that my favorite films of 2008 (Rachel Getting Married, The Wrestler, Vicki Christina Barcelona and even Rambo) all have one thing in common, namely that they are all essentially character studies of very flawed, complicated and profoundly human individuals. None more so than Kym, the tragic lead of Rachel Getting Married played beautifully by Anne Hathaway who immediately joins the great Jonathan Demme heroines (Griffith in Something Wild, Pfeiffer in Married to the Mob and Foster in Silence of the Lambs) in a role that is simultaneously heartbreaking, frustrating and gut-wrenching.



Kym has always been the screw up of her family. Drunk or stoned since her early teens and damaged by her older sister’s accomplishments even earlier, she has just been released from a nine month stint in rehab when Rachel Getting Married opens up, just in time for her sister’s marriage to a charismatic and intelligent young man named Sydney.
Scripted by first time screen-writer, actress Jenny Lumet, Rachel Getting Married is one of the most authentic feeling productions of the year. Lumet’s look at an upper class family of artists and success stories, and the fragile little girl seemingly always one step behind has the kind of honest and knowing feel that is missing from the similar modern works by the likes of Noah Baumbach. It’s a refreshingly down to earth and unforced work that is handled beautifully in Demme’s hands, who directs with the kind of wild energy that has been missing in his films since the ferociously funny Married to the Mob twenty years ago.



Shot on location in Connecticut with a huge ensemble cast, including Demme’s mentor Roger Corman and several musicians he has worked with in the past, Rachel Getting Married is the sort of American film that populated cinemas in the seventies but is rarely seen anymore. While we still have many character based pieces, it is the characters driving Rachel Getting Married that makes it seem so out of step with its time. The characters, ranging from abrasive to irritating but never less than realistic, Demme and Lumet bravely populate their film with are so incredibly vivid and kudos should be given to the entire cast for their work. Also, Demme’s brave directorial decision to deliberately draw the film out with a seemingly unending series of musical interludes at its climax perfectly matches the feeling I’m sure all of us can share of a wedding that has gone on far too long. A particular shot towards the end of the film of a hung-over bridesmaid stumbling to the bathroom in her underwear is one of the most perfectly realized and brilliant moments in Demme’s illustrious career, and Rachel Getting Married is filled with those kind of bristling and funny asides that the award winning director has always excelled at.
Shot beautifully by Leaving Las Vegas (and frequent Demme collaborator) Declan Quinn in a hand held style reminiscent of John Cassavetes color productions of the seventies, Rachel Getting Married is a cause for celebration for those of us who have wanted Jonathan Demme to deliver the kind of film he used to do every few years with seemingly ease. It’s a beautifully gut-punching film that I preferred far and away to more acclaimed works of the year like Slumdog Millionaire, Doubt and even The Dark Knight.



Of course none of it would work without Anne Hathaway. I can see why people might find her Kym to be an unforgivable an unsympathetic character but I had the opposite reaction. Perhaps due to the fact that I have struggled with some of the same issues in my own life, I found Hathaway’s work here to be among the most personally resonate and remarkable of the decade and frankly I will have a hard time with anyone else winning the Best Actress award this year.



Like most of his greatest works (Silence of the Lambs excluded) Jonathan Demme will be ignored when the Oscar nominations are announced this week. His film will at least get a couple but it won’t be enough for a production much more subtle and daring than most of the film’s honored this year. It doesn’t matter though; I walked out of the theater feeling like I had witnessed the resurrection of one of my favorite American directors and that was award enough in my book.

Operation Screenshot: Jonathan Demme's MARRIED TO THE MOB (1988)

"As a kid, a little kid, I loved going to the movies, and now I love making movies."
-Jonathan Demme-