Revolutionary Road - 2008
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon.
Revolutionary Road is a movie adapted from the "Landmarks" novel by Richard Yates, and director by Sam Mendes. It reunite the Titanic's cast : Kate Winslet, Leonardo Dicaprio and Kathy Bates. But what i think here, is that the iceberg here is more dangerous. The Movie shows the american dream awakened by a nightmare. As a couple in their middle age struggling with the restlessness that came into their marriage once they realised that the honeymoon is over. In fact, the couple had everything a happy couple would need at that time : House, manicured lawn, "modern" furniture, two kids, martinis, cigarettes... As they thought that this kind of life will fulfill their fantasies, things improve dramatically. Obviously an oscar contender movie on many levels :leading and supporting roles, direction, screenplay ....
Initial release: December 15, 2008 (USA)
Director: Sam Mendes
Screenplay: Justin Haythe
Box office: 75.2 million USD
Awards: Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture – Drama ...
Actors: Kate Winslet, Leonardo Dicaprio, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates, David Harbour, Kathryn Hahn...
Kate Winslet as April :
"No one forgets the truth Frank, they just get better at lying"
What makes a movie a good one ? Probably Kate Winslet. There isn't a banal moment in Winslet's performance. Not a gesture. I think she is the best English-Speaking film actress in her generation.
She plays the role of a lovely, typical housewife. But there was a question that she had in her head. A question that has been reverberating through modern relationships ever since : "Can two people break away from the ordinary without breaking apart ?". She always wanted to break away. She believes that they were meant for much better. She had a hunger for something more than a weary slog ...
So one day she suggested to her husband to travel to Paris. Where she can work as a translator in the american embassy There. While Frank can simply find what he loves to do. Not what he have to do. It may seems to be an unreal idea for Frank. But it sure wasn't for April.
Leonardo Dicaprio as Frank :
Leo played Frank. The man of the family. Handsome, well paid husband. He and April made a "perfect" couple in that decade, ELvis's decade (1950's). He got what society told him to have. He thought that he was happy. But he was living a lie. He could spent his life that way, and it would be okay for him, cause he won't realise the plague he was living. But he got April. And April is an opened eyes woman. And wouldn't let this couple live in this "hopeless emptiness". The way Frank reacted to the plan that was suggested (moving to Paris) was not what April wanted. First he accepted the idea. Even that he wasn't that convinced. But the promotion, the raise and the baby who was in his way have changed everything the couple planned to do. In fact Frank was waiting for this kind of things to use as an excuse.
Sometimes i think that he was right.
Michael Shannon as John :
"Hopeless emptiness ... Plenty are onto it, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness"
John Givings is an outstanding character. He is a young man who suffers from a serious mental disorder. He is rude, he has no self-control, but he has a way of always saying the truth. And this kind of character is exactly what the movie needed. He is the one who's gonna shed new light on all other characters.
He got one of the best lines in the movie. And all his quotes are rude and inappropriate, but they are surprisingly true.
As he discover in the end how fake the rest of the characters are, he seemed the most clear-headed and sane person in the movie.
