"Anniversary" Review: A family gets torn apart in this political thriller

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In the new film Anniversary, an innocent family gathering becomes the start of a familial political war when a once idealistic son brings his polarizing girlfriend to dinner. That invitation leads to an immediate change in the family’s dynamics. Over time, that change creates a ripple that transforms the entire family.

The divisions that the unexpected guest helps create cascades into a nightmare in this political thriller that shows how politics — and political friction — can irrevocably divide even the closest of family units.

In the feature’s opening moments, prominent Georgetown professor Ellen Taylor (Diane Lane) declares, “I am neither liberal nor conservative.” She may not belong to a political party but she believes in the free expression of ideas and debate.

When she celebrates her 25^th Anniversary with her husband Paul (Kyle Chandler) though, she’s not focused on politics. She’s more focused on her family coming together as she spends time with her daughters Anna (Madeline Brewer), Cynthia (Zoey Deutch), and Birdie (McKenna Grace) and her son Josh (Dylan O’Brien).

However, the presence of Josh’s new girlfriend Liz (Phoebe Dynevor) at the party leads to some surprising results. Liz is one of Ellen’s former students: a radical who believes in one party rule, who was seemingly rejected by Ellen and her colleagues at school. In the midst of the party, Ellen recognizes her former student and realizes that her son’s new girlfriend might lead the wannabe writer into political extremism. The feature then follows the family over time as Liz’s totalitarian beliefs affect the family and divide the entire community.

Directed by Jan Komasa and written by Lori Rosene-Gambino and Komasa, Anniversary has a lot to say about political division. Although most of the story takes place at the home of Ellen and Paul Taylor, this is an undeniably ambitious tale as the script takes six members of a traditional family and changes them all in the course of one hundred and fifty two minutes.

Because the script requires several of the characters to drastically change rather quickly, the story does lack some subtlety. At times, it feels more interested in its message than letting the characters develop naturally over time. While some of the characters change only a tiny bit, others seem to be completely transformed over the period of time the film covers.

Those changes ultimately lead to a dramatic third act when each of the characters' fates is revealed in a matter of moments.

That being said, Anniversary is thoroughly engaging and provocative. It's hard to look away when the cast-- especially Lane and Dynevor -- manages to make the story truly stand out. In playing against time, Dylan O'Brien does an admirable job as the son caught between two headstrong women but his character's transition oftentimes feels too forced to really let him excel in the role.

Although there are issues with character development, the film captures a compelling arc and has a lot on its mind. Even if you don’t buy into the changes each character makes, it’s easy to buy into the idea that a once tight-knit family could fall apart when one of their members diverges dramatically from the group and that change affects everyone around him.