I am always surprised when I find a movie that genuinely revels in the ordinary and keeps away from unrealistic, extravagant elements. I enjoyed Mike Leigh's "All or Nothing" for this reason, because the entire film never compromised realism for the "dramatic intensity" most dramas cheaply exploit. What surprised me most about Juan Jose Campanella's "The Son of the Bride" is that it took a very sincere approach towards a crowd-pleasing story.
The last time I saw a crowd-pleaser, it was "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and I was bored with its reliance on platitudes and I was annoyed with its constant cuteness. It wasn't until I saw Campanella's film that I remembered that the goal of a good crowd pleaser is to give the audience an optimistic perspective of life, not to bombard them with farcical whimsy and relentless, shallow cuteness.
"The Son of the Bride" is a remarkably honest movie about a man named Rafael who has been living the wrong life for years. He doesn't realize his disposition until it is almost too late, but circumstances allow him to reevaluate the choices he has in life.
A story like this could have taken the lesser, "Greek Wedding" road, conforming to all kinds of crowd-pleaser clichés to create a naively positive tone, but "Son of the Bride" realizes that nothing in this life is absolute. Good moments never last forever, and life is never completely beautiful or completely ugly. The characters are all very realistic, because they doubt themselves and others, they sometimes contradict themselves and are therefore closer to feeling like real human beings than any character in a crowd pleasing movie I've ever seen.
Watching "Son of the Bride," I was reminded of a little film I once saw called "Los Lunes Del Sol," which chronicled the ordinary plight of some unfortunate working men of Spain. I loved that movie, because it reminded me of the frustrations of my own family during hard times. "Son of the Bride" brought back those same sad memories, but also reminded me that its through pain and struggle that we grow up and are enabled to see things clearer. Nothing is absolute- yes, hard times are hard, but they are essential for growing and learning how to truly live.
My only complaint for this frequently funny and touching epic of ordinary proportions is its opening scene. The opener is an unnecessary, not to mention corny, scene where Rafael is a little boy. It could easily be trimmed without effecting the movie in any negative way. This is a minor gripe, though. The movie is marvelously, but realistically, optimistic and is a new benchmark by which all crowd pleasers should be measured.
The last time I saw a crowd-pleaser, it was "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and I was bored with its reliance on platitudes and I was annoyed with its constant cuteness. It wasn't until I saw Campanella's film that I remembered that the goal of a good crowd pleaser is to give the audience an optimistic perspective of life, not to bombard them with farcical whimsy and relentless, shallow cuteness.
"The Son of the Bride" is a remarkably honest movie about a man named Rafael who has been living the wrong life for years. He doesn't realize his disposition until it is almost too late, but circumstances allow him to reevaluate the choices he has in life.
A story like this could have taken the lesser, "Greek Wedding" road, conforming to all kinds of crowd-pleaser clichés to create a naively positive tone, but "Son of the Bride" realizes that nothing in this life is absolute. Good moments never last forever, and life is never completely beautiful or completely ugly. The characters are all very realistic, because they doubt themselves and others, they sometimes contradict themselves and are therefore closer to feeling like real human beings than any character in a crowd pleasing movie I've ever seen.
Watching "Son of the Bride," I was reminded of a little film I once saw called "Los Lunes Del Sol," which chronicled the ordinary plight of some unfortunate working men of Spain. I loved that movie, because it reminded me of the frustrations of my own family during hard times. "Son of the Bride" brought back those same sad memories, but also reminded me that its through pain and struggle that we grow up and are enabled to see things clearer. Nothing is absolute- yes, hard times are hard, but they are essential for growing and learning how to truly live.
My only complaint for this frequently funny and touching epic of ordinary proportions is its opening scene. The opener is an unnecessary, not to mention corny, scene where Rafael is a little boy. It could easily be trimmed without effecting the movie in any negative way. This is a minor gripe, though. The movie is marvelously, but realistically, optimistic and is a new benchmark by which all crowd pleasers should be measured.