Are things going too well in your life? Do you feel you're in a good mood far too much during the day? Are you looking to turn that smile upside down? Luckily, nothing has to go wrong in your real life to achieve these results. Simply rent "Revolutionary Road" and wait for the depression to wash over you.
I waited forever and a day to finally watch this movie. Oh sure it tempted me with its crisp white posters and 1950s setting, but I resisted because I knew that this was not a happy movie. Instead, because I was so interested in the story, I read the book. And it ripped my heart out, chapter by chapter. So I knew what I was getting into when, a year later, I finally let "Road" get to the top spot of my Netflix queue.
I would call "Road" a reunion movie in that it brings Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet back together on screen for the first time since "Titanic." I love the idea of reunion movies ("You've Got Mail") but not always the results (you heard me, "Runaway Bride"). Leo and Kate have great chemistry and are completely believable as a young couple in 1950s Connecticut.
This believability is what makes this movie so affecting to the viewer. The domestic drama concerns the day-to-day life of April and Frank Wheeler, a seemingly perfect young suburban couple. Through brief flashbacks we piece together how these people ended up together and, more importantly, how they ended up keeping up with the Joneses. No matter what your feelings are on suburbs, the scene in which the Wheelers first see their new home feels so foreboding that you might not be able to drive down a tree-lined street without shuddering after you see it.
And that's what this movie is good at: turning innocent-looking, everyday scenes into haunting portrayals of a marriage (and lives) in crisis. The sparse, sterile sets help to create this mood, but the silent suffering of the actors is what makes the mood so enveloping. The Wheelers feel stuck in the lives they fell into while trying to do what was expected. The characters move back and forth between silent loathing and yelling the most awful things at each other. You won't believe people can be so mean to one another.
"Revolutionary Road" is visually beautiful and emotionally draining. If you can't let go of Rose and Jack from "Titanic," just imagine that this is what their lives would have been like had they both survived the shipwreck. On second thought, it's probably better that Jack just had to freeze to death. That's like a walk in the park compared to what these people go through.
