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.

Upcoming movies in the next week

Welcome to the holiday edition of Upcoming Movies, and on this Christmas weekend, there are a bunch:

Tomorrow, Christmas Day. If your family is starting to annoy you and you want to escape to the movies, you have no less than 7 new movies opening in Ottawa tomorrow. Here are your choices:

The Reader
This adapation of the bestselling German novel (and Oprha's Book Club pick) is about a man who discovers that the older woman he had as a lover when he was young might have a terrible secret in her past. Psst .... the secret involves Nazis. Directed by Stephen Daldry (The Hours) and starring Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes, Brune Ganz and my favorite Romanian actress, Alexandra Maria Lara (this is the 3rd film in 4 years with Ganz and Lara, all of which involved Nazis).




The Spirit
Comic Book writer Frank Miller directs this comic book adapatation, which is getting some downright awful reviews. Stars Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, Scarlett Johansson.




Bedtime Stories
From Disney comes this Adam Sandler movie where he tells stories to his nephews, and the stories come to life. Sarcastic Yay!




Doubt
This new film is about a power struggle between a head nun and a young idealist priest in a New York parish in the 1960s. The play was a huge hit on Broadway, and teh film has garnered lots of awards attention already. Stars Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis. Opens on Christmas Day, but also heads to the Bytowne a week later on New Years Day if you want to support your local independent theatre.




Valkyrie
Want more Nazis? Instead of Oprah's Book Club pick The Reader, you can have Oprah's Couch Club pick Tom Cruise in Valyrie, where Cruise must single-handedly assasinate Adolph Hitler in order to restore Scientology as the dominant force in Germany. From director Bryan Singer, and also starring Kenneth Branagh, Terence Stamp, and Bill Nighy.




Marley & Me
Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston adopt the worst puppy ever, but grow to love it. If you want to see a real bad dog, rent White Dog.




And my pick for a Christmas movie this year, David Fincher's
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Brad Pitt stars as a a baby born as an old man who then ages backwards, while the world keeps going forward. The movie looks fantastic, and I encoruage everyone to check it out. Also stars Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton.




I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas.