Pages tagged “jonathan demme”

The Toronto International Film Festival, which wrapped up its 10-day run this past weekend, is arguably the most important film festival in North America. But to the average moviegoer it's not as well known as Sundance, in part because TIFF samples the most promising new film from around the world while Sundance emphasizes home-grown movies, for better or worse. But TIFF showcases its share of English-language films, too -- often with star-studded red-carpet premieres -- and this year some of the festival's best movies were among them:

I'll have to admit that the new film from Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) wasn't on my must-see list. He's a respected filmmaker, but his latest film, the story of a woman getting married, gathering with her extended family, and clashing with her sister, sounded a little too much like Noah Baumbach's Margot at the Wedding. But I stepped into the screening on a lark and was stunned not only by Demme's patient and unadorned approach but also by Anne Hathaway's razor sharp, painful, quivering performance as the bride's sister. Demme injects melodrama into the story at regular intervals, but he observes the results like a documentarian huddling in the corner with a small, handheld camera. The rehearsal dinner plays out in near real time, complete with speeches from moms, dads, cousins, crazy uncles, and poetic troublemakers, and the gathering feels so honest that I was cringing along with the guests when the sweet, emotional moment threatened to collapse, and I felt their sigh of relief when it mostly didn't. The rehearsal dinner is one set piece; the other is the wedding itself, a jubilant, eclectic affair in which Robyn Hitchcock and Fab 5 Freddy show up to perform. In between those tent poles is a harrowing roller-coaster that may vaguely resemble the films of Noah Baumbach but has significantly more heart and soul.