The moment I heard that Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet had another movie together last year, I was stoked to watch it. When it earned both of them Golden Globe nominations and Kate won Best Actress, the more I wanted to watch this. So was it worth all the expectations?
It turns out that this is a movie that is very uncomfortable to watch, especially as a couple. I watched this by myself, and I was thinking how it would be if my wife watched it with me. It portrays the story of Frank and April Wheeler, an idealistic young couple in the 1950s who live in a nice suburban house along Revolutionary Road. It traces their gradual emotional deterioration as a couple until it reaches an inevitably miserable conclusion.
"Revolutionary Road" was written by males, both the book and the script. I do not know about the book, but this movie was clearly written from the male point of view. I may sound sexist, but the character of April is so maddeningly irrational! I do not fully understand what she really wants. Though Frank is no saint himself, I empathize with the frustration of Frank as he tries to put up with the inexplicable moods of his wife.
Kate Winslet was predictably good in this role, which is very much reminiscent of her turn in another suburban housewife in "Little Children" last year. But for me, it was Leonardo di Caprio who totally succeeded in inhabiting his role of Frank. He was very good in delineating the exasperation Frank must be feeling being caught in such a depressing situation. I personally think Leo's portrayal of Frank had much more depth than Brad Pitt's Benjamin Button.
Kate Winslet had been quoted to say that she felt Leo di Caprio is her second husband, and here they do look like a real married couple onscreen. They really look good together there, so this makes the twisted storyline more heartbreaking to witness. I cannot believe that both of them were shut out of Oscar nominations.
The surprise Oscar nominee that seemingly came out of nowhere was Michael Shannon as Best Supporting Actor. Shannon played John Givings, a psychiatrically-ill math genius (and son of their landlady) who seemed to be the only person who could read the true thoughts of the embattled couple. He was only in two scenes, but he made his mark despite the limited screen time.
Director Sam Mendes (Kate's real life husband) gives us another tragic view of suburban America as he did in his Oscar-winning "American Beauty." As with "Beauty," someone from my background would feel that everything seems over the top and unrealistic. Is it? People do not really talk or behave that way, do they?
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