After the Wedding An Underwhelming American Adaptation of the Original Grade: C

Source: IMDB

After the Wedding tells a story of an American woman Isabel (Michelle Williams), whom runs an Orphanage in India. Isabel must go back to New York, in order to seek funds for her Orphanage, as the Orphans desperately need supplies. Isabel meets with a business woman Theresa (Julianne Moore), claiming her case why she should fund her organization. Theresa then invites Isabel to her daughters wedding, they’ll talk more about the possibility in funding her Orphanage, as they also can get acquainted with each other. Isabel notices a past lover at the wedding, as things begin to shift as the twists come to play. The Cinematography for the most part... Didn’t impress me at all. I mean I liked the opening shot of India, the art gallery shot, and the hallway shot at the end. But the film tries so hard to be this artistic film, the way it’s shot and it comes off rather it annoying, most of the shots basically shout out at me “NOTICE ME! I’M ART! NOTICE ME!” Especially when it’s featuring a birds nest... I mean ok? The Score was just fine, nothing more to say. I thought the cast did a good job as a whole. Michelle Williams playing Isabel was pretty good performance wise, character wise is where I have a main issue with. I wanted more out of this character, I mean giving up a life in America to go help out an Orphanage from another country less fortunate sounds very interesting. I expected to learn more from this character and her experience towards this transition, but unfortunately I really didn’t know much about her other than a couple secrets. Julianne Moore played a great performance as Theresa, in little films like these it always feels like she’s giving her all in these roles and it shows yet again. Especially in the third act... It almost broke me, I truly felt complete sympathy for her character during that scene, Moore nails it! I have issues with this film other than the lack of detail information regarding our lead character, whom honestly could’ve been more interesting. There is some poor editing choices, regarding some flashback sequences. I think all but the last flashback sequence was unnecessary. Regarding the beginning flashback, I believe that particular one shouldn’t have been a flashback, you could’ve used that scene before Isabel’s departure to America. For the most part the dialogue isn’t compelling, thought revoking, or deep in any way... Which is disappointing considering the subject matter of this film. The daughter deciding she may go through a divorce, due to her husband isn’t open to her going to India and had some harsh words to say about a significant other... That was weak. They got married like days ago, you’re going to call it quits after a small dispute?! I would’ve cut it from this film or make it more personal and ruthless, so you can understand her doubts with her marriage. Also by the end of the film, you’re suppose to feel sad for Isabel and this Orphan... I didn’t feel anything. I believe it’s due to the lack of chemistry, as this film tries to force us to believe these two have a special relationship. There are a couple things I like about this film. The twist and turns worked really nicely in the film, made me more engaged with the storytelling as I didn’t expect both of these to come into play. I feel like a theme in this film is against any form of abandonment, whether it be becoming a parent or from a challenge in life, it feels this was the moral message of the film as I did like that. I felt at the end of the film, the way one of our characters makes this character locked up in this situation is wrong... HOWEVER, I felt this actually made sense because in a way this character did all the work while they ran from this challenge. So in a way it’s like returning the favor, I thought that was neat. Although this film didn’t wow me as I felt there are flaws towards it, it became an alright watch for me. Now I’ve never seen the original 2006 version of this film, I would like to due to being an critically acclaimed film and I think this would work better in a foreign film format, plus maybe it offers more than this American adaptation. I can say that it’s always a challenge to transition from a foreign film to an American adaptation, rare enough do we ever get a David Fincher’s Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but I can understand why one would like this story to be shown as an American adaptation. Overall, After the Wedding (2019) was just ok. I’d wait till rental for this one. -Mitch Smietana