Revolutionary Road
2008
Revolutionary Road (2008) reunites Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio,
but it's no Titanic, and although the drama could also be called a
romance, there isn't much about it that is romantic. In fact, most of the
characters in the movie based on a novel by Richard Yates are pretty
nasty.
Opening in 1955, April (Kate Winslet) and Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) are
in the seventh year of what would seem to be a perfect marriage. Frank
commutes to an office job in New York, while April stays in their
Connecticut suburban home, taking care of their two children.
Unfortunately, they are miserable, April because she has given up her
dream of being an actress, and Frank because he hates his job at the same
company where his father worked as a salesman for twenty years. Fights
between the two become common.
Desperate to save their marriage, April suggests they move to Paris, a
place that Frank had visited and loved during the war. She will get a
secretarial job with an international organization, and Frank would be
free to chase his dreams. Plans are made, but as the date approaches, an
unplanned event dashes their dreams, and April has trouble dealing with
the aftermath.
While this is an interesting and realistic story, and no doubt the book
is quite good, the in-depth character studies cause the movie to plod, but
at the same time you get the feeling that much has been left out. Indeed,
several of the deleted scenes, all of which appeared in the book, helped
me make better sense of the story, and you wonder if, even though the
movie is already 1 hour 59 minutes long, it didn't suffer from the
omissions. Although many liked it, I was unimpressed. The caps are from
the Blu-ray version.
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| Zoe Kazan |
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