Anniversary Movie Review – Diane Lane and Kyle Chandler’s Thrillers Explores the Melting Point of Family and Politics

Anniversary‘s trailer deceives you. As a matter of fact, it’ll probably remind you of Prime Video’s The Girlfriend, where a son’s new girlfriend finds herself at odds with his mother. However, this trailer doesn’t do justice to how sprawling and intricate Anniversary‘s story really is. It’s an eye-opening tale about the current political division that’s wrecking society, and how it’s creeping closer to home and about to destroy the family unit.

The drama simmers at Paul (Kyle Chandler) and Ellen Taylor’s (Diane Lane) 25-year wedding anniversary party. Their children – Anna (Madeline Brewer), Cynthia (Zoey Deutch), Josh (Dylan O’Brien), and Birdie (Mckenna Grace) – all attend the function, but Josh brings along his new girlfriend, Liz Nettles (Phoebe Dynevor). Ellen – a Georgetown University professor – recognizes Liz as a former student who once wrote an anti-democratic paper and was booted out of the university. Now, Liz is writing a book called The Change, arguing the need for an authoritarian government because the current system isn’t working.

A staunch and unwavering democrat, Ellen’s views put her at odds with Liz, as well as Josh, whom she now feels is under the influence of his girlfriend. Years pass, showcasing how The Change becomes a phenomenon, Josh and Liz become wealthy and influential, and America’s government changes to mirror the society that Liz imagined. Every time the family gets together, the fractures grow wider as everything changes and they’re ripped apart.

In these divisive times, director Jan Komasa is bold in putting out a film like this, which he co-wrote with Lori Rosene-Gambino. No matter what message anyone takes away from this, someone is bound to be offended and claim it’s left- or right-wing propaganda. It’s not. It’s a social commentary on the state of society.

Anniversary forces everyone to face the facts: Political division is at a dangerous point. It’s no longer about policy disagreements; it’s ideological. The violence, as depicted in Anniversary, is already here, and it’s only getting worse. The worrying thing is that opportunists are the sole ones benefitting from it by fueling the fire and inciting people for their own nefarious purposes. Common sense seems to have gone out the window too, as people embrace radical ideologies – like The Change – when that’s clearly not the right way forward. Having said that, it isn’t wrong to say that the system is broken and needs to be fixed, but the solution should never be extreme.

It’s through the lens of politics that Komasa displays how the Taylor family unit dissipates. Dinner conversations become consumed by heated topics, and it doesn’t bring anyone closer. Instead, it’s the opposite, as what they feel they used to have in common with each other becomes unrecognizable over time, and family members turn on each other. The values they shared seem to no longer be the same, turning their American dream into an American nightmare.

None of this would be possible without actors willing to dig deeper into the psyche of their characters. Lane anchors Anniversary with a commanding performance as Ellen, who remains steadfast and fierce in her views, but she goes through the emotional meat grinder in the worst ways possible. Similarly, it’s haunting to watch how Chandler captures the evolution of Paul, who becomes a shell of who he was at the beginning of the film, as his entire world crumbles around him and he loses what mattered most.

Topping Lane and Chandler’s turns are Dynevor and O’Brien. It’s impossible to talk about Dynevor’s arc without spoilers, but let’s try. This might be the role that elevates her into the big time in Hollywood, as the character she plays keeps the audience guessing and questioning if she regrets her actions. O’Brien also undergoes a transformation as Josh, starting off as someone who wants his parents’ approval and becoming a dangerous individual who embodies the corrupting influence of political power.

Anniversary drops on you like a bomb, exploding with a shocking finale. It’s nothing like you expect it will be, as the story metamorphs into a terrifying nightmare that feels like it could happen in the not-too-distant future, especially as the political war grows angrier and radical ideologies become platformed. Let’s hope that viewers heed the warning and realize that the only people who win this war are the ones who play people off against each other for their own gain.

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