Aquarian Profile: Jenny Lumet

You've probably never heard of Jenny Lumet, but you may have heard of her father Sidney Lumet and her grandmother Lena Horne.

Lumet, born February 2, is a screenwriter who released her brilliant gem of a film Rachel Getting Married in September 2008.

Filmed by Aquarius-Pisces cusp director Jonathan Demme, the movie is a look into the relationship between a drug-addicted daughter and her family when she returns home after a stint in rehab.

It sounds like familiar ground that Lumet is treading here, but where it veers from more precocious and twee films of this same topic is in its multilayered portrayal of characters who are not the typical walking and talking metaphors for good and evil. They are complex, world-weary, and damaged in believable ways. These characters have soul that goes beyond quirky vignettes (I'm looking at you, Juno and The Royal Tannenbaums).

Demme does an excellent job with the script, filming the movie in a fluttery, home-movie manner and wrangling up a really incredible supporting cast: Debra Winger as the mother and Robyn Hitchcock as a wedding performer, anyone? TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe as the groom?! Wait--Tunde Adebimpe as the groom singing an a cappella Neil Young cover ("Unknown Legend") to his bride at the alter. Unbelievable. And the wedding itself is perhaps the stuff of Aquarian dreams: multicultural, esoteric, colorful, nuanced, musical, and beautifully chaotic.

The film has been praised for its subtle elegance and on-target depiction of millennial ennui and arrogance, but it's also been criticized for being one of the most relentless films about family dysfunction.

What it is is honest in a way that I think only an Aquarian can show honesty--without turning away. So, it can come across as suffocatingly real. Depending on which side of the criticism line you fall, this could be the worst movie you've ever seen or the best movie you'll ever see on this subject.

My vote is for the latter. I cannot wait to see what Lumet writes next. In the meantime, Rachel Getting Married is available for instant viewing via Netflix.