Revolutionary Road

So I've sat on this review for a good week. First let me start out by saying that Revolutionary Road is a reasonably well made movie. Aesthetically it looks terrific, Deakins did his thing (as one the greatest living cinematographer), performances were great by Kate Winslet, Leo, and Michael Shannon, the pacing was nice and slow, and the editing wasn't noticeable. I thought the music beat you over the head, but that's not a bad average. My problem with this movie is the way it tackled the theme.

First of all, the plot. April Wheeler is a young actress and Frank Wheeler a war vet who's traveled the world. The two fortuitously meet at a party and (seemingly instantly) fall in love. The movie jumps to them buying a nice house in the suburbs, with the house of Kathy Bates, and starting their life together. They are clearly not happy here. Frank feels lost in corporate America and April isn't content being a housewife. To combat their hopeless, emptiness existence in the suburbs, they cobble out a plan to live in Paris as they feel that'd be the end of their problems. Did they go to Paris? Was it the end of their problems? Did they live happily ever after? Well you'll just have to pay 12 bucks to find out.

It seems to me that Sam Mendes hates the suburbs. He talks about the hopeless emptiness of the suburbs but this really just applies to April Wheeler and to no other character in the movie. Sure, she plays an architype and that she is meant to represent housewives who yearn for more - that is not to say that housewives necessarily NEED to yearn for more, just that in the '50's there were certainly some that did and for them, there wasn't much of an alternative.

The problem is, April Wheeler is wholy unlikable. It is not Frank Wheeler's fault that she only married him because she thought he could take her places. Sure Frank isn't a prize himself, he cheats on his wife, says things that are cruel, but most of his actions are really just a product of April's unhappiness in her situation and he's at his wits end with what to do - that and he hates his job.

In the end, I didn't feel sorry for April and her plight, we aren't offered enough of her history. We aren't shown any signs of her free spirit nature or any other reason she may not fit into this life, we are just left to assume that this is the case. You can just say someone is a free spirit, it's insulting.

I suppose I'll say that I liked it even though it won't be in my top ten. The problem is that I'm not sure that society was the problem in this movie, it's the couple. It wasn't the suburbs' fault that April and Frank were unhappy. It wasn't Franks fault that April was unhappy. It's her fault for not taking ownership of her life when she has the chance. Maybe that was Sam Mendes' point and myself and a whole bunch of reviewers have it wrong, who knows. It is a well made movie with terrific performances and I respect what Sam Mendes was trying to do, I just would have told the story a little differently by starting it a little earlier in their lives and by trying to make the lead character a little more sympathetic. I give it:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

So here's the thing about Benjamin Button, he's living life in reverse - oh and it's a very long life. Well...that's pretty much the gist of it. I did like it though. The way I felt about this movie was much the same way I felt about Forrest Gump. You COULD make it into a two hour movie that makes sense and gets the point across, but when the ride is so much fun, why bother?

The movie starts out in a hospital room with Daisy, love of Ben's life, and her daughter. Daisy is clearly near death and wants to hear her daughter read from a diary by her bedside. Daisy starts by telling the story of a clockmaker who, while building a clock for a train station, loses a son in the war. He ends up building a clock that moves in reverse because his only desire is for time to reverse and his son will be back from the dead. Sure, the story isn't explicitly necessary, but it's a nice story that sums up the theme of the entire movie quite nicely.

Daisy's daughter then begins reading the diary to daisy. It starts by telling the story of Benjamin's parents and the story of his birth. As you might have guessed, Benjamin is the size of an infant with the face and body of a elderly man complete with arthritis. How his mom dies in childbirth and his father, unable to look at his odd son, puts him on the steps of a retirement/boarding house. Queenie, the lady who runs the boarding house takes him in thinking he'll probably die soon anyway and the rest, as they say, is history.

We are taken through Benjamin's entire life, a large part of which is devoted to Daisy. We watch him learn about unnatural death during WWII while working on a tugboat (a great job by Jared Harris as Captain Mike), we watch as his father comes back into his life, and we watch some heartbreaking decisions he must make regarding his family.

There are some criticims, however. Daisy telling the story from her deathbed isn't the most original plot device every used - with that said, however, it fits the themes of mortality and doing what can while you can so it is forgiveable. The old woman in the hospital is a mystery for about 30 minutes and I'm not sure what that accomplishes. I also understand the length criticism that probably exists in many a review. I loved the ride and wanted it to last even longer than it did. Other positives are: Makeup, Score, Fincher, Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt, and Jared Harris.

In the end, I miss grand storytelling and that is exactly what this gives me. I'll grant you that I probably overlooked some criticisms because it's been a few years since I've seen decent "Grand" storytelling. I give the film a solid 1:


Now get the hell off the internet and watch a movie.