Beziehungen und andere Katastrophen

If you like a slow, carefully developed, beautifully acted, funny and articulate piece of parlor theater, complete with a heart-wrenching scene or three demonstrating alienation between neighbors and genuine intimacy among friends, this is for you. If not, not. With its two deaths or near-deaths, this is more than talk, but still if pure conversation strikes you as self-indulgent or tedious, rather than (in this singular case) genius, why not pass?

I like two of the actresses very much so I might be biased. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Parker Posey are two of my favorites. Plus Parker had some topless moments. So that aside I will say this movie is worth watching if you don't mind an over done LA type of drama. It was well acted but the story line is very much been there done that type of theme. And I think there are times when the movies drags and doesn't flow as well as it could. If you are not too bored with this LA type of drama then it might be worth watching. If you like Parker Posey and Jennifer Jason Leigh as much as I do then it is a must see.

...but well worth seeing. The digital camerawork was very well done, suggesting there is a future for this technology. The film's style seems to depend on Robert Altman's Seventies' films ("Three Women," "A Wedding," "Nashville"), where plot elements are treated with more or less equal weight.

The pluses: Jennifer Jason Leigh comes into her own as an actress. The affectations that made me walk out of "Mrs. Parker" and "Georgia" are gone, she's just concerned with telling the story here. Kevin Kline, Jennifer Beals and Gwyneth Paltrow are all wonderful, especially Beals, whom I feared was condemned to made-for-TV hell. Alan Cumming seems to struggle with his role; I just didn't see him possessing the gravitas to be an esteemed novelist chosen to direct a film, but he is always interesting to watch.

The minuses: those awful friends and neighbours. Whining, back-biting, jealous, passive-agressive, tiresome people--the Adamses, Forsyths and Roses. Were they inserted into the movie because independent productions need a lot of "color" or just because they're friends of the filmmakers? I hope I never see Jane Adams play a more cartoonish, over-the-top character as Claire Forsyth. I could understand her husband trying to drown in the pool after living with her.

The self-referential nature of the story is irksome. Hollywood's problems concern only those who work there, not us. If that Julia Roberts vehicle, "Notting Hill," told us far more than we wanted to know about the perils of stardom, Cumming and Leigh have not learned the lesson, even though their film breathes some fresher and more passionate air.

I can understand how many will find THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY an indulgent, sneering little movie lacking in focus and ultimate catharsis; but I enjoyed it, quite a bit actually, if only to see some of Hollywood's finest talent freeing themselves from the studios for the intimacy of a digital shoot. I admired Party for being bold, clever, funny, cutting and occasionally brilliant. The ending felt a bit forced at first (the off screen family death as catalyst for conclusion was used to better effect in TWO GIRLS AND A GUY - another actor-driven digital indie), but ultimately it fit for Sally and Joe to end where they began, Narcissist and Echo.

Other comments have provided good synopses; I won't elaborate save for one obvious theme so far missed, that of chasing lost youth. It's quite depressing really, for at this party, Generation X officially goes over the hill. All my life I've been vaguely annoyed at self-obsessed Baby Boomer flicks like The Big Chill and The Ice Storm that seemed to congratulate an entire generation for being so damn dysfunctional. Well (*sigh*), now such movies will be made about my generation, here defined as neither willing nor ready to grow up. Gwyneth as "Skye @#*%ing Davidson" has the one thing all else at the party have lost, and the little pills she brings offers a last, desperate attempt to participate in her "youth culture" (ages 8-29 need only apply). Klein's presence (an obvious reference to the Big C) suggests that some Boomers are still chasing that lost youth. Meanwhile, Gen-X is just getting started.

"So much for Ecstasy."

I guess that every once in a while, there has to be a movie about people's relationships about to blow up in everyone's faces - especially if it's about Hollywood. "The Anniversary Party" is one such movie. It has Joe Therrian (Alan Cummings) and Sally Nash (Jennifer Jason Leigh) throwing a party in their Hollywood Hills house and inviting various friends. As the party continues, it begins more and more to look like everything is about to collapse.

This was an okay, if routine, flick. The aspect that really stands out (for me at least) is that real-life couple Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates co-star with their real-life son and daughter. Other cast members include John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Parker Posey. Nothing significant in cinema history, but acceptable.