Review "Cheerful Weather for the Wedding"

There is nothing more universal than family conflict. Every family has tension between it's members, and this tension often climaxes at events like weddings and funerals. Cheerful Weather for the Wedding explores the boiling over of tensions that happens at the turn if the 20th century as an aristocratic and emotionally repressed English family hosts a country wedding for their daughter while trying to keep their composure.
The film begins on the morning of the wedding day with the bride, Dolly, puking in the bathroom. Even as her bridesmaids gather downstairs, dolly, played by Felicity Jones, cannot bring herself to recover from her hangover and start getting ready. One by one, there is a parade of family members arriving to the house. A picture is slowly painted of the contrasting personalities that will be mustering forced smiles all day long. We meet the bridesmaids, Dolly's savvy and cosmopolitan cousin and her awkward and oblivious younger sister. Dolly's mother, played by Elizabeth McGovern, arrives in a grand fashion, the perfect picture of English uptight elegance. Her polite facade melts when she sees Joseph, played by Luke Treadway, Dolly's old flame from last summer. After that we are introduced to the aunt and uncle who are well aware of the misery that awaits them, the curmudgeonly grandfather, and the sour but sassy grandmother. As the house fills up and small squabbles begin to erupt, the tension builds as Dolly still has not come down for her wedding and the groom is missing the wedding ring. Even in this refined English country side, bringing family members together guarantees chaos.
After the family is established, the narrative proceeds with episodes of flashbacks focused on Dolly and Joseph's fling last summer. Their seasonal romance abruptly ended when Joseph left on an expedition to Greece, followed by Dolly's quick engagement to another fellow. Dolly's mother correctly fears that Joseph feels there is unfinished business between he and Dolly, and his obvious effect on Dolly heightens the stress of the wedding.
Aside from the predictable family drama that comes with a wedding, Cheerful Weather for the Wedding explores how far people will go to keep up appearances, something the English are all too familiar with. How long will Dolly's mother be able to keep her cool under all the pressure of hosting a wedding, all the while pretending Joseph has not created a disturbance? How long will Joseph and Dolly pretend they don't have feelings for one another? How much longer can all the relatives remain in the same house before things get heated? Director Donald Rice focuses on the inability of the characters to express themselves as well as the interpersonal tensions of things they cannot express to each other. While the film may have had many characters at its disposal to explore these tensions, they assembled an entire tool shed and only asked for a nail and hammer. Once the family is established most of the storytelling focuses on the history of Joseph and Dolly, something that quickly becomes repetitive. The filmmakers are better served exploring the dynamics of the family tension and even the present day tension between Joseph and Dolly, instead of weighing themselves down by explaining the couple's past. The two of the best scenes in the movie are when Dolly's mother and later Joseph break their facade and confess to the entire family their feelings. The tension is finally brought out into the open and the barriers are brought down. Instead, Dolly and Joseph's story, though tastefully illustrated through changes in color tone, adds an unnecessary and indulgently romantic aspect to the movie that doesn't always fit in seamlessly with the present day story.
Perhaps the only even slightly rusty tool in this shed of underused characters is Elizabeth McGovern, who after coming out of obscurity to find success on Downton Abbey has managed to typecast herself as the English matriarch, even if she hasn't quite mastered the accent. Her performance is a well paced one that gives depth to the character, but if practice makes perfect this role would have been easy for her to achieve.
Putting together members of the old world English society, people groomed to be well mannered and cool tempered, is the perfect dry kindling on a hot summer day; it doesn't take long to start a forest fire. Whether or not they can acknowledge the fire is another thing entirely. In the last scene of the movie, Dolly's mother takes a call from a well-wished and proclaims that there was "such cheerful weather" despite the rain. Collected and refined after her outburst, she has resumed her cheerful disposition and pretends the atmosphere, both indoor and outdoors, truly was cheerful.

Directed by Donald Rice; Written by Donald Rice, Mary Henely-Magill; Produced by Teun Hilte; With Elizabeth McGovern, Felicity Jones, Luke Treadway, Mackenzie Crook; Running time 86 min

Successful Assimilation...Almost

After almost a week in France, I'm starting to feel less like an obnoxious American and learning to blend in a bit more. Though the 50 or so words I know in French don't get me very far, I've mastered the blank stare and head nod. You continue to do any one of these moves and people just start speaking English eventually.
Even as I sit here drinking the French national water (wine) I can't believe week I've had. First the 14 hour plane ride, then the suicidal, white-knuckle taxi ride from Nice to Juan les Pin, and finally the festival. The first day was intense. Two of the movies I tried to go see were full. I saw one sort of weird one and one sort of cute one, then got dressed to beg for the opening premiere of Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom". After an hour of standing around, begging like a gypsy, I still didn't get it. About a dozen Grady students decided to commiserate at the American Pavilion and enjoy some overpriced beer. When we came out, we were stopped by a newly set up red carpet and blockades that we could walk right up to. Across from us, fans and press were lined up. We realized that the stars from the premiere would parade out after the movie was over and set up camp, and a parade it was. Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Eva Longoria, Bernice Bejo, ALEC BALDWIN, and many others all walked about 7 feet in front of us. We even got Wes Anderson and Jessica Chastain to sign autographs. They were so warm and receptive, looked us in the eyes and thanked us for coming, made me have faith in celebrities. Needless to say we were starstruck and no longer cared that we didn't get to see the movie. I was able to catch it the next day and it was worth the wait; one of my favorites so far.
As if that wasn't enough, the next day, after more good movies in the market, I got into the premiere of Rust and Bone, another competition film starring Marion Cotillard, whom I adore. Getting a ticket means you get to walk the red I carpet and watch the movie with the cast as they're seeing the finished version for the first time. The whole night might have been the highlight of my life thus far, it was just a dream come true. The movie is definitely my favorite so far and had such a powerful story, I highly recommend it. Today I had yet another interesting experience. I went to the 11:00 screening of "Beasts of the Southern Wild," a movie that got rave reviews when it played at Sundance. I was a little surprised when a man got up on stage to introduce the film since that normally doesn't happen. He was speaking French, of course, so I was a little surprised when the director and cast walked down the aisle and sat on my same row! It was cool to watch it with them and see the reception they get from the audience. Definitely another cool experience, followed by another day of good movies.
The festival is only three days in and I've already collected enough stories to last me every cocktail party I'll ever attend, but I don't want it to end! It's just the most fabulous experience and I am so grateful to be here. More to come, including reviews!

"Titanic" - My first review...don't judge

For a ship that sank, the Titanic has gone on to make a lot of money. James Cameron may have spent years working on "Titanic", but now he’s milking his cash cow for all it’s worth. First the initial release, then again on Valentine’s Day, and now fifteen years later we get to see the ship go down in 3D. Audiences just can’t seem to get enough of the doomed ship. So despite all the hype surrounding the film, how does it hold up after all this time? Let’s just say it’s not sitting at the bottom of the ocean. Concurrent with the 100^th anniversary of the actual Titanic sinking, James Cameron saw a shameless PR opportunity and took it, giving a whole new generation a chance to experience titanic in all its brilliance.

"Titanic" opens as the determined explorer Brock Lovett (Bill Paxton) is hopelessly searching for a rare diamond that was said to be lost in the wreckage of Titanic. Hearing about his search through the nightly news, an aged Rose Calvert (Gloria Stuart) recognizes the necklace that once belonged to her and is flown out to the research site in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. A bit skeptical, the team of researchers does not believe the old woman is telling the truth until they hear her own tragic tale of the Titanic and how she survived. It is here that we launch into the story of Rose and Jack, played by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, which proves timeless. Despite James Cameron’s choppy dialogue, the youthful and reckless story of the rich girl and the poor boy plays out well. The immaculate scenery and complementary cinematography of the grand ship hasn’t aged a day.

The 3D effects, something I was skeptical about, were actually done quite tastefully. The subtle effects help exaggerate the depth perception and help with the scale of the ship, making it appear even bigger than before. Something I wasn’t prepared for was the endurance that it takes to watch Titanic in its entirety. It is both emotionally and physically draining to sit through the three hour movie, drawing the sinking out to epic proportions. Cameron wants us to be fully attached to the ship and every single one of its passengers before we watch it sink. Rose jumps, then jumps again, and then doesn’t jump before the ship finally goes down. While at some times the pace is exhausting, it does the real life tragedy of the titanic justice. The real Titanic was more than a love story; it was a human tragedy, albeit one that Cameron has been milking for fifteen years. Thankfully for Cameron, his cash cow has stood the test of time. 

Written and Directed by James Cameron

Starring Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton

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Stay tuned for movie reviews, pictures, and other shenanigans from my trip of a lifetime to the Cannes Film Festival.