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Just when you thought your own family was really effed up
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Since Lil E was with his dad and Thanksgiving came on Wednesday for us, I celebrated the holiday with my parents the way family gatherings should -- silent and in the dark.
That's right, we went to the movies. And since Lil E's dad one-upped me by a weekend by taking the boy to see Madagascar 2, we opted to go totally adult in our cinematic choice and picked out Rachel Getting Married at an indie theater we hadn't been to in years.
Have you seen this movie? Oh, you must. You really must.
It is the heartbreaking and funny and very real story of a women who comes out of rehab and home for her sister's wedding. Anne Hathaway is about as faraway from a princess as you can imagine, and plays a narcissistic, hopeful, full-hearted, lost addict in recovery beautifully. The rest of the cast, who you may not know by name but will certainly recognize, stand up to her and with her in the complicated, awkward and lovely way you will also recognize whether your family is familiar with addiction or not.
And my family, God love us all, know a bit about addiction. So we sat there in the theater and laughed and teared up and took it on like families familiar with this sort of stuff are supposed to do in the dark.
If you've never been in a 12-step meeting, know that the one in this movie is on point. And if you've been in one, maybe you will giggle or sigh at how on point it is. Around all the addiction is amazing live music, dancing and colors -- of fabric and lighting and people -- that are breath-taking and made me realize how white-washed so many movies I see are.
As tough as it was to watch all the arguments and years-old issues unwind on the big screen, the rawness of it was also comforting to me. It just felt soothing to me to see that all put out there and projected so honestly, so large. And even better, to not have to participate in any of it, just observe, appreciate, cry if I needed to, laugh when it was that real.
Maybe you will have a bonus day of your own, maybe you will get a chance to see something adult, to put aside your own family issues, to sit back, to watch someone else's (fictional) family put their own issues out there, up there. If so, watch. You must watch.
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