Review of Revolutionary Road (2008) by Jim F — 16 Nov 2012

When it comes to representing the frustrations of being in an imperfect relationship, this movie rules. Sam mendes excells at this kind of thing. He enabled me to see the relationship flaws in such detail, that I could empathize with both characters.

I could see the fabulous lack of chemistry between the 2 characters as though they were a real couple. April was frustrating with her selfish attitude owed to an unsuccessful acting career resulting in her being a bored sub urban housewife.

You could see the hive of negative activity in her mind and could really kill her for being so stubborn and hard headed, happy to play mute and not really try to salvage anything. On the other side Frank was like a boiling kettle.

You can see him suffocating her, feeling frustrated at the continued downward spiralling of his marriage and knowing that the more he says or does to make it better, actually just makes everything worse.

He's fantastic as the selfish husband who needs distractions, cheats on his wife and then feels anger when he realizes he's losing her. It is more tense than American Beauty, and far more gritty.

But with the minimal piano backdrop you can see Mendes formula here in full blown form.