Since I saw that smart, snappy trailer, I suspected that “Rachel Getting Married” would find a following. Even so, I wouldn’t have guessed that it would turn out to be the critical darling of the Venice Film Festival at the halfway mark.

Yet that — aided by the general perception that, the Miyazaki aside, the competition films have been lacklustre — is exactly what has happened. Hours after its Lido screening this evening, raves for the film as a whole are pouring in, while that Oscar buzz for Anne Hathaway is getting louder.

Screen International gushes:

Hand-held, free-wheeling and at times joyously spontaneous, the dogme-like “Rachel Getting Married” sees Jonathan Demme paying tribute to Robert Altman (in particular “A Wedding”) but there’s such a large dose of music in here it almost forms a genre of its own … Packed with superb performances, in particular from Anne Hathaway in the lead role and Debra Winger in a small supporting turn she makes memorable, Rachel Getting Married will undoubtedly be up for awards consideration in the major categories.

Variety’s breathless review, meanwhile, sums up Hathaway’s performance as “fragile, angry and superb,” while comparing the film to my own favourite Demme work:

Brimming with energy, elan and the unpredictability of his “Something Wild,” Jonathan Demme’s triumphant “Rachel Getting Married” may just lay the wedding film to rest, being such a hard act to follow … Riding emotional rollercoasters to the ever-changing rhythms of the wonderfully eclectic in-house bands whose music never ceases, Demme’s self-styled stunner should appeal to arthouse auds.

More of the same from the Hollywood Reporter, calling it a “great piece of Americana,” and anticipating a build of momentum “as awards roll in and word-of-mouth spreads.”

Across the pond, the Times is just as enamored of the pic, though they reserve their loudest applause for the leading lady:

Ultimately, the film belongs to Anne Hathaway. She combines a raw-nerved vulnerability and a showy obnoxiousness for the role of Kym, the prodigal daughter who checks out of an institutional rehab facility in order to attend her sister’s wedding, the psychological scars of her former life still very much on show … It’s remarkable that, given how deeply unsympathetic and self-obsessed her character is for much of the film, Hathaway manages to make her so likeable.

Kris has already indicated that he’s not as high on the film as others. Nevertheless, I’m getting genuinely excited about “Rachel Getting Married” for the first time — not least because it seems so much more rough-edged and eccentric than what was promised in the trailer.

I previously thought of the film as only being a contender for acting and writing awards, but the tone of these reviews has me wondering. Could this be the “little” Best Picture contender we’ve all been scrabbling to pinpoint?

It’ll be interesting to see how it performs in the festival kudos — a major award at Venice could put it firmly on track for awards season, as happened with “The Queen” and “Brokeback Mountain” in recent years.

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