STARRING: Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond, The Departed); Kate Winslet (Little Children, Finding Neverland,)
DIRECTOR: Sam Mendes (American
Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead)
WRITER: Justin Haythe (The Clearing)
PLOT: A young 1950’s couple deal with marital strife within the confines of claustrophobic suburbia.
FIVE OBSERVATIONS
4 Kate and Leo are superb actors. The Titanic connection is cute but these actors have each come a long way from that sinking ship flick. They work incredibly well off each other. DiCaprio is compelling as Frank Wheeler, an indecisive office worker who doesn’t know how to reach his wife. Winslet is mesmerizing as April, the housewife who longs to break free from suburbia hell. April’s character could have been whiny and annoying but Winslet does a fantastic job of showing the proper amount of frustration and anger. The make-up people really should do something about her eyebrows. She sometimes looks man-ish.
4 The breakout star of Revolutionary Road is Michael Shannon (Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys II). Shannon plays John Givings, a self-proclaimed ‘certified lunatic’ who says what’s on his mind. His freedom to speak the truth exposes the real inner workings of the Wheeler family. Such an amazing performance! He outshines the already stellar cast. Give this guy an Oscar nomination!
4 To be honest, Revolutionary Road looked an awful like Mad Men. Sure, the television show takes place in the 60’s and Don Draper loves his job, but the home situations looked pretty similar. Of course, the film had two hours where Mad Men gets a couple of seasons to show the slow disintegration of a marriage. Thank goodness I love Mad Men, so watching a shortened intense variation was fine by me. Also, despite the very depressing subject matter, I enjoyed how Mendes ended the film with a tongue-in-cheek solution to surviving married life.
4 I expected a bit more in the way of cinematography. Sure Mendes’ first two films had the brilliant Conrad Hall Sr., behind the camera but Roger Deakins who did Jarhead and most of the Coen brothers films is no slouch. The beginning shots that depict Frank Wheeler trudging to work was nicely done but hardly original. I was hoping for some more eye candy with my emotional drama.
4 Thomas Newman’s score was a little too reminiscent of Road to Perdition. The mix of sorrow, drama and suspense works for Revolutionary Road but I kept thinking of Tom Hanks killing people and that can’t be good.
RECOMMENDATION
Wait for the DVD
(Unless you want to prep yourself for the upcoming Oscars.)
COMING SOON
Oscar nomination picks
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