Claire Danes does well as a young woman, moving from a slightly over-sensualized relationship with her father (Byrne) to an overzealous first physical "relationship" with an older boy. While the script is not perfect, the visual rhythm of the film supports Chala's struggle admirably. The film uses color particularly well, and builds meaning by posing relationships against one another-- father, husband, wife, lover, daughter, mother. These roles unite or cause misery in many permutations, and "Polish Wedding" does a better job than many films of showing us a glimpse of the complexity of these relationships in life. The story is played out against the backdrop of a Polish Community in, I believe, Detroit, where the reality of family makes tough decisions like Chala's even more difficult. Whether or not you feel you would have made Chala's choices differently, there are many redeeming qualities to the poetic truth of her portrayal; the film mixes beauty with misery well throughout, particularly in the culmination of the "Parade of the Virgin". Worth seeing, to say the least.
Review of Polish Wedding
