Revolutionary Road
That’s it. I was so curious to watch this movie that I had to buy the DVD ($19.99 at Target), and then to spend about 3 hours with it — deleted scenes, making of, all the extras had to be seen.
I didn’t know anything about Revolutionary Road (I have not read the Wikipedia page, for it tells the whole plot), except that:
- it’s about a young couple trying to escape the social norms of the 50s;
- it’s based on a book written in 1961;
- the title is merely the name of a street, nothing more;
- Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet can be excellent actors, especially when there is no boat in the movie!
I don’t regret having spent some time and money with this movie (after all, from both Best Buy and Target, this is the only DVD that interested me!). It’s almost a masterpiece!
The Oscars are awarded by a bunch of morons. This was an excellent movie, not Milk, The Reader, The Dark Knight, or Vicky Cristina Barcelona!
I mean, it could have been a masterpiece, should have they not deleted at least 3 scenes. From the 5 deleted scenes, 3 are crucial for a proper understanding of the situation (plus, they depict facts from the book), so they should have been inserted in the proper place at least in the DVD version of the movie! (As the “making of” reveals, one of the deleted scenes appears in a trailer of the movie, but ironically not in the actual movie!)
Anyway, I normally dislike being impressed by a serious drama. Because this is what Revolutionary Road is: one-third comedy and two-thirds tragedy, but mostly a movie with an unexpected depth one couldn’t suspect from the first scenes.
I’m not going to insert any spoilers, but rather a few memorable quotes to be remembered.
April: “No one forgets the truth, Frank, they just get better at lying.”
John: “The hopeless emptiness? Now, you’ve said it. Plenty of people are on to the emptiness, but it takes real guts to see the hopelessness… Wow.”
April: “It didn’t have to be Paris.”
Shep: “You just wanted out, huh?”
April: “I wanted in. I just wanted us to live again.”April: “He’s right; we were never special or destined or anything at all.”
Shep: “Sure you are. You’re The Wheelers.”John: “Hey, but I’m glad about one thing, though.” (He points a yellow-stained finger at April’s stomach.) “You know what I’m glad about? I’m glad I’m not gonna be that kid.”
I have to admit that I am a big fan of the fifties when comes to America. The common myth (based on nostalgia) is that these were times where the cars, the furniture, and generally the design were beautifully elegant (this will continue to be true, in different ways, throughout the 60s), the classical jazz was still a natural tune (not a “retro” one), the life seemed to be continuously improving and generally OK (unless you’re a negro), and no “revolutions” were in sight (we’re not in the 60s yet). Heck, there are people who believe that everything changed in 1959, so 1955 was maybe the end of a post-war era!
I therefore enjoyed the rather careful reconstruction of the original atmosphere of the 50s. I was more than surprised, I was irritated to hear that the house they’ve chosen for the set was larger than what they were building in the 50s and larger than what “the Wheelers” would normally afford, and even so, it was… “too small” for the filming!
No, really, nowadays Americans want everything to be huge! They’re really a spoiled nation, or actually a broken one. There is no hope for common sense to come back into the American spirit…
The real drama is that what’s depicted in this movie doesn’t only apply to that situation from the 50s. The metaphor is very much valid for the life we’re having right now, it’s just the norm has changed, and the social expectations are different. Not in any better way, that is.
This is probably why this movie had such a momentous impact on me. Really. I must be getting older, but I was really shocked by the feelings introduced induced by this movie.
I suppose the primary merit is of Richard Yates, but Sam Mendes did a good job too, and Leo and Kate were really good.
A movie to remember. Now let’s go back to our daily routine, and to our hopeless emptiness…
Jun 29, 2009 at 13:55
Wow. Finally a post where I can agree with you. This movie it is brilliant, but I’m not surprised that the Academy didn’t rewarded it with a big Oscar, because there’s too much honesty in it and in general very few people appreciate when somebody else is putting a mirror in front of them revealing flaws and all.
And “the feelings introduced” made my day. Thanks.