Helena From the Wedding

Narrative Feature, Narrative Competition
D: Joseph Infantolino; with Lee Tergesen, Melanie Lynskey

Joseph Infantolino’s debut feature explores the tensions of varying nature and degrees among three married couples as they celebrate New Year’s Eve together in upstate New York. The marriage at the center of the narrative is that of Alex (journeyman television actor Tergesen) and Alice (Heavenly Creatures‘ Lynskey), newlyweds for whom the bloom is starting to slightly droop from the rose. The husbands and wives bicker, scorch meat, swill wine, snort coke, and play backgammon as surface distractions from the deeper fissures that plague their relationships, all told from a quietly intimate narrative perspective. The film relies less on dialogue (but make no mistake: this film is a talker) and more on ambient music and small physical gestures to communicate these tensions to profound effect. Married folks will reflect upon their own unions; single folk may feel justified in their lack of attachment.

Thursday, March 18, 4pm, Lamar 2

This article appears in March 19 • 2010.

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