Review of Revolutionary Road (2008) by Liz — 26 Sep 2010

A dark, sad, heavy, and heart breaking movie with such realism it hurts.

Look at the lives of the Wheeler's they are two young attractive well off people with two happy young children, yet if you look in the suburban life you will see the deepest pits of sorrow and depression. Living isn't something they do, they just move. Sam Mendes has struck again with Revolutionary Road, which really is just that, Revolutionary. If you look up Revolutionary in a dictionary you will get the same old answer; (?adjective.

1. of, pertaining to, characterized by, or of the nature of a revolution, or a sudden, complete, or marked change: a revolutionary junta.

2. radically new or innovative; outside or beyond established procedure, principles, etc.: a revolutionary discovery.) Yet why does it seem that a definition cannot apply to this truly, suddenly, and completely outside or beyond movie? It's because it can't be contained within set limits, and set words. When the characters see what's been going on around them, and who they've become they make a Revolutionary descion.

Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet back together as an onscreen couple after 11 years. Their last movie together was "Titanic", and their on screen passion is still burning. Leonardo is the doubter, and the one happy with what he has, while Kate is struggling to find the more, the life, the things she wishes she had. Together they run a course of ups and downs.

To write something so self-depricating, ambitious, and intense is extremely challenging, and what's harder is to direct it into something that really shows the extremes of the emotions and situations. Sam Mendes (director), Justin Haythe (screenplay), and Richard Yates (novel) all have incredible creativity and feeling for subject matter as real and unreal as this.

In a way this was a period piece, yet it was done with such grace that the styles, and the "old-fashion" ways were all just natural. The costumes were especially easy to cope with.

In conclusion, the title "Revolutionary Road" has three seperate purposes. Firstly, it's an all american street name. Secondly, it's ironic, becuase no one ever does anything revolutionary. And thirdly, it's almost mocking the fact that they tried, yet couldn't be revolutionary. And titles that have more than one meaning are the most spectacular, because they are the ones that hold the most.