We Can Be Happy Here

Revolutionary Road
2008, dir. Sam Mendes. 1 hour 59 minutes
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates

In 1999, British theatre director made his film debut with American Beauty, a film about, among other things, suburban ennui. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and since then, suburban ennui has been seedy ground for many a film, from We Don't Live Here Anymore to Life As A House to The Ice Storm to Little Children. It's said that original book that started this whole genre in Richard Yates' 1961 novel Revolutionary Road, which has now been made into a film by none other than Sam Mendes.

Leo and Kate, in their first appearance together since Titanic 11 years ago, star as a young couple who start out with dreams of high life, but end up in the Connecticut suburbs with a cookie cutter house and cookie cutter lives, just like every one else.
The happy facade has slowly fallen away over the course of almost a decade, and they decide to move to Paris. They even have passage booked on a steamboat (not that anyone wants to be on a boat with DiCaprio and Winslet), but as often happens, best laid plans ...

The two leads give as good performances you're going to see this year, but the film is just so relenting in its misery that it's hard to feel good about what you're watching. It's likely than everyone watching will be uncomfortable because either a) they don't want to become like this couple, or b) they're worried they already are. The best performance comes from Michael Shannon, who plays a young man from a mental institution who tries to befriend the couple. His character is only person in the film who is perceived as not normal within the world of the story, yet it is only her who can truly articulate the obvious truths of every other character. In any year that Heath Ledger hadn't accidentally killed himself AND played The Joker, Michael Shannon would be winning an Academy Award. If you can stomach it, this is a film to see, but it's not a good time, and probably not a date movie.

4 stars out of 5.

Saw Sunday night with Steph and Paddy at the World Exchange.