Revolutionary Road

When I received Revolutionary Road in the mail from netflix, I was excited. But I didn't watch it immediately. Instead, I waited for a perfect time when I knew I'd be focused, in the right frame of mind, and capable of ingesting the perceived heaviness of the film. So, at about exactly 1 week ago (12:30 AM, Monday) I lied down, turned off the lights, and slipped this DVD into the player. What I planned was to watch it for a few scenes then, typically, fall asleep some part in and just play the rest of it the next day.

Didn't happen. Watched the whole thing. It set the week in motion: sleep deprived nights and sluggishness at the office.

But it was worth it.

Revolutionary Road is about marriage and it's about the suburbs and it's about the 1950s. It's about conformity and revolution - in various definitions. It's also not a story that's easily digestible or, ironically, cookie cutter. It's a drama and it's an intense, maddening, saddening, and tragic drama.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as a young suburban couple that together choose that life isn't what they want it to be and decide to move themselves and their children to Paris in search of exciting fulfillment. They both do wonderful jobs portraying complex individuals within their complex environments.

Sam Mendes directs the film and equally does a fabulous job of setting the tone of the material. The choice for the color palette, bland - natural pastels, made a statement. If the film wanted to explore conformity, then the colors made sure we knew it. I loved seeing the blandness of the houses and the wardrobe of the cast blend into each other. The characters were melding into their environment - literally.

At the end of the movie, I think it's easy to feel a multitude of motions - negative emotions - about what transpired. There's anger. There's fear. There's grave sadness. But I don't think, in this sense, we're meant to judge any of the characters for their actions or motivations. Instead, we ARE meant to lament - not so much on culture of the times but the recurring sense of disappointment in lives unfulfilled.

Revolutionary Road isn't just the street name of our lead couple. It's the conflict of it's to definitions: either to revolt or to run in circles like a record (as their last name "Wheeler" refers to). It's an exploration of how to do both in terribly unhealthy ways. And it's done so well.

*** I'll post a more cynically humorous take on this film and the cast in the next few days. ***

Slumdog Millionaire

I just finished watching Slumdog Millionaire a few hours ago. As most of my reflections on movies/pop culture/whatnot are meant to written from gut reaction, my initial response to the film was: "It was good. But..."

There was a lot to like. I thought the cast was great. Those children in the film were great! (It was also saddening to know that these kids really weren't "acting" through these experiences. Sure, the script is fictional as well as their character's names and experiences, but they ARE/were slumdogs.) I rarely enjoy child actors, but the ones in this movie, ESPECIALLY the one who played the young Jamal, were a pleasure to watch. Overall, I liked the rawness of the inexperienced actors.

The visuals were great. Danny Boyle definitely had some fun in stylizing the movie. In particular, I appreciated the introduction to the slums - the kids running away from the cops through their slums. It introduced us quickly to Jamal and Salim while also showing us the reality of the slums.

I also enjoyed the homage to Bollywood. I related it to a player in a basketball game. Said player could shoot 2 of 15 and look like a donkey until s/he hits the game winning 3 at the buzzer. We can easily forget the rest of the game and just remember the satisfying end. Not that this film was shooting 2 of 15 earlier in the game.

What I wished were stronger are parts that mainly revolve around the story. While not being wholly original with a premise isn't a crime, some elements that can be taken as hokey are hard to stomach completely when the subject matter of the film isn't light. I thought there was an imbalance of the happy ending and coincidental life experiences of Jamal that weaved into a complete and coherent story and the severely tragic elements of organized crime, child prostitution, religious hatred, and deathly poverty *just to name a few.) Jamal was hyper heroic. That could be great to some. Others would like more depth to the archetypes. (Me, I mean.)

Overall, the visuals and performances make this film worthy of purchasing and rewatching.

(And more Freida Pinto would have been appreciated. Instead, she was Darth Mauled: She was part of the marketing blitz after the film made earned some early buzz but only was shown in about 10 minutes worth of scene time.)

posted by breakfast boy@ 11:20 PM