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Directed By
Sam Mendes
Written By:
Justin Haythe, Richard Yates
Cast:
Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathryn Hahn, Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon, Zoe Kazan, Ryan Simpkins, Ty Simpkins, David Harbour, Dylan Clark Marshall, Adam Mucci, Jared Morrison, Jonathan Roumie, Mary DeBellis, Jay Ferraro, Les Gardonyi, Zoe Hartman, Sean Marrinan, Kal Thompson, Gail Yudain, Gregory Guy Gorden, Kristen Connolly, Jason Etter, Lorian Gish, Maria Rusolo, John Behlmann, Timothy Warmen, Evan Covey, Brennan McKay, Will Vought
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Revolutionary Road (2008)
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Movie Review by E
February 8th, 2009
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With the possible exception of the film noir-charged 1940s, perhaps this current decade will go down in cinematic history as the most unilaterally anti-family, especially in terms of family in a traditional sense. No matter the genre, from docudrama to chick flick, from Western to slice-of-life film, at best one finds a skeptical view of the traditional family's ability to function as a cohesive unit. Either the family is displaced from the start, or smashed to pieces after some type of conflict plays out. Examples of the traditional family in shambles leap to mind easily, even in casual reflection of films I've seen lately: A traumatic death drives a young girl from her home in THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES. An American man grows to prefer his Hmong neighbors over his disrespectful family in GRAN TORINO. A woman struggles with an unfaithful husband and a mouthy daughter in NIGHTS IN RODANTHE. Obsession with work-related endeavors drives a spouse away in FLASH OF GENIUS.
In the pompous 50s-era drama we are force-fed in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD, based on Richard Yates' 1961 novel and directed by Kate Winslet's talented husband Sam Mendes (AMERICAN BEAUTY, 1999), I really never understood (or much cared) why the principals were so frustrated with suburban life in Connecticut. While Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio) reluctantly puts himself through the same paces every day at the office, his wife April (Winslet), herself suffering some type of identity crisis, dreams of a new beginning in Paris, where she theorizes Frank could construct a more purposeful professional life. But Frank gets one of those promotions that's only possible in the movies—he impresses someone completely by accident. Now with more money at stake, Paris seems a lot further away. But with irritating, even unstable neighbors like John (Michael Shannon portrays the film's one interesting character), can Frank and April afford to stay?
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD is so obsessed with the family's obsolescence that the lead characters' children barely figure in the narrative—why introduce them at all? What's particularly downbeat is the notion that love outside the traditional family doesn't make sense either. Frank's office affair with new secretary Maureen (Zoe Kazan) comes off as passionless and pointless. April's one-night stand (David Harbour) offers even less performing power than her husband is able to demonstrate. I suppose all of this was intentional—but for a film about despondency to work, we have to understand where the characters are coming from, what they want and why. Frank and April probably deserved each other in the first place, and no doubt would have found their glasses half empty in Paris had they made it there.
--Eric Somer, 2/7/2009
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