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REVOLUTIONARY ROAD - 2008, Sam Mendes
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet
Great film-making isn't always constituted by technical achievements or successfully controversial subject matter. Arguably, most true cinephiles should be able find as much merit in Casablanca as in A Clockwork Orange. Sometimes, the goal of a film is to amplify the literary potential of cinema and to communicate universal feelings with the audience. In other words, great movies are great storytelling. Based on this sentiment alone, Revolutionary Road is a great film.
Something I found especially interesting about this piece was director Sam Mendes' approach, particularly from a visual standpoint. His 1999 Best Picture winner, American Beauty, was infused with a colorful photographic quality that worked deliciously as a blatant juxtaposition to the dark subject matter. His follow-up feature, Road to Perdition, was equally striking on an aesthetic level. Even his mild failure Jarhead from 2005 succeeded most in terms of its sharp, vividly shot imagery. Although it is shot by acclaimed professional Roger Deakins, Revolutionary Road has a subtle, bare-bones visual quality that ultimately serves towards the effectiveness of the picture as a whole. Although cemented together thematically, this movie is about the characters and their feelings. By giving his brilliant cast the room to perform and guide the adaptation with their character portraits, Sam Mendes made an ingenious decision.
The landscape of this movie is in the agony of Frank and April Wheeler, in the claustrophobia and detachment that comes with a marriage gone hideously awry. Although Richard Yates' novel brings societal conditions and implications from that time period into play, I believe that this story is truly timeless, and arguably universal. Not all couples articulate themselves the way Frank and April do, and not all people have the same moral stances or emotional qualities. However, I think it's safe to say that all of us feel regret. We are all capable of feeling trapped. And I believe that, more often than not, the core motivation of humans in distress is self-interest. Justin Haythe's script manages to convey everything that made the source material so powerful and resonant. It makes a statement about a time and a place, but also about people and the destruction that mismatched relationships can cause.
All of these ideas are expressed to us through the key characters, both of whom are excessively neurotic and volatile. Within the context of the novel and the film, the non-mainstream nature of the people involved is irrelevant. The performances that bring these remarkable characters to life could not possibly be better. I can say with complete earnestness that screen acting does not get any better than this. First matched together in 1997 with the milestone Titanic, DiCaprio and Winslet engaged audiences with their fantastic chemistry and conviction. Eleven years later, they have reunited for a movie that could not be more different, and it is astonishing to see how much both of them have evolved, despite the fact they've always been great.
I think people overuse comparisons to young Marlon Brando. His accomplishments as a performer are countless. He brought new life to screen acting with A Streetcar Named Desire in 1951. I personally believe that he was the greatest film actor of all time. That being said, if I were to compare any working actor to the legendary Brando, it would be Leonardo DiCaprio. Acting with such intensity and painfully poignant sincerity is rare, but Mr. DiCaprio seems to know the craft better than almost anyone else. Kate Winslet helps balance both the empathy and the tragedy at the foundation of Revolutionary Road, bestowing us with one of the screen's great lead female performances. Her exploration of April Wheeler is uncompromising in the most literal sense of the word, and the result is one of the most stunningly human pieces of acting offered in the year 2008.
This movie could be analyzed again and again. It could be cross-examined, debated, interpreted in numerous ways, and I still don't know if anyone could summarize exactly why the story is so important and crushing. I could highlight all of the supporting performances, the successful directorial decisions, the best elements of the writing, but to me there's no need. It brought me to the point of tears, which is something that almost never happens to me at the movies. It is a visceral, enormously affecting piece of art that will always stay with me. To be honest, it's based on my favorite novel of all time. Being such a huge fan of the book, I felt it was a faithful and exceptionally strong adaptation.
This is the best movie of 2008, and it has a special place with me. It always will.
MY RATING: 5/5
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet
Great film-making isn't always constituted by technical achievements or successfully controversial subject matter. Arguably, most true cinephiles should be able find as much merit in Casablanca as in A Clockwork Orange. Sometimes, the goal of a film is to amplify the literary potential of cinema and to communicate universal feelings with the audience. In other words, great movies are great storytelling. Based on this sentiment alone, Revolutionary Road is a great film.
Something I found especially interesting about this piece was director Sam Mendes' approach, particularly from a visual standpoint. His 1999 Best Picture winner, American Beauty, was infused with a colorful photographic quality that worked deliciously as a blatant juxtaposition to the dark subject matter. His follow-up feature, Road to Perdition, was equally striking on an aesthetic level. Even his mild failure Jarhead from 2005 succeeded most in terms of its sharp, vividly shot imagery. Although it is shot by acclaimed professional Roger Deakins, Revolutionary Road has a subtle, bare-bones visual quality that ultimately serves towards the effectiveness of the picture as a whole. Although cemented together thematically, this movie is about the characters and their feelings. By giving his brilliant cast the room to perform and guide the adaptation with their character portraits, Sam Mendes made an ingenious decision.
The landscape of this movie is in the agony of Frank and April Wheeler, in the claustrophobia and detachment that comes with a marriage gone hideously awry. Although Richard Yates' novel brings societal conditions and implications from that time period into play, I believe that this story is truly timeless, and arguably universal. Not all couples articulate themselves the way Frank and April do, and not all people have the same moral stances or emotional qualities. However, I think it's safe to say that all of us feel regret. We are all capable of feeling trapped. And I believe that, more often than not, the core motivation of humans in distress is self-interest. Justin Haythe's script manages to convey everything that made the source material so powerful and resonant. It makes a statement about a time and a place, but also about people and the destruction that mismatched relationships can cause.
All of these ideas are expressed to us through the key characters, both of whom are excessively neurotic and volatile. Within the context of the novel and the film, the non-mainstream nature of the people involved is irrelevant. The performances that bring these remarkable characters to life could not possibly be better. I can say with complete earnestness that screen acting does not get any better than this. First matched together in 1997 with the milestone Titanic, DiCaprio and Winslet engaged audiences with their fantastic chemistry and conviction. Eleven years later, they have reunited for a movie that could not be more different, and it is astonishing to see how much both of them have evolved, despite the fact they've always been great.
I think people overuse comparisons to young Marlon Brando. His accomplishments as a performer are countless. He brought new life to screen acting with A Streetcar Named Desire in 1951. I personally believe that he was the greatest film actor of all time. That being said, if I were to compare any working actor to the legendary Brando, it would be Leonardo DiCaprio. Acting with such intensity and painfully poignant sincerity is rare, but Mr. DiCaprio seems to know the craft better than almost anyone else. Kate Winslet helps balance both the empathy and the tragedy at the foundation of Revolutionary Road, bestowing us with one of the screen's great lead female performances. Her exploration of April Wheeler is uncompromising in the most literal sense of the word, and the result is one of the most stunningly human pieces of acting offered in the year 2008.
This movie could be analyzed again and again. It could be cross-examined, debated, interpreted in numerous ways, and I still don't know if anyone could summarize exactly why the story is so important and crushing. I could highlight all of the supporting performances, the successful directorial decisions, the best elements of the writing, but to me there's no need. It brought me to the point of tears, which is something that almost never happens to me at the movies. It is a visceral, enormously affecting piece of art that will always stay with me. To be honest, it's based on my favorite novel of all time. Being such a huge fan of the book, I felt it was a faithful and exceptionally strong adaptation.
This is the best movie of 2008, and it has a special place with me. It always will.
MY RATING: 5/5