Tis the season to catch a new movie, and Friday night was no exception. After some mighty tasty Mexican food and a cervesa or two the better half and I took in "Revolutionary Road", a less-than-uplifting tale detailing the beginning of the end of life as we once knew it.
The end of all happiness, at least in the U.S. of A., began in the 50's as a large segment of the population moved out of the city and into that giant suckhole of men's souls, the suburb. That, according to director Sam "if you're not an artist then you're a mindless working class drone" Mendes, turned out to be a fate worse than death, although he seems to think the two are synonymous.
Hope springs eternal, however, and the film does give us hope that there is redemption, indeed there is a path out of the soulless, Stepford-like puppet show of the burbs. Only problem is that you have to pack up, travel many miles, and learn to say "Je me rends!".
But enough about the plot. The acting is quite good, the casting is excellent, and there is a small amount of gratuitous nudity. Not to mention the fact that these people drank more than I do, and that's saying something. Still, the film truly underscores one of the fundamental differences between men and women and concludes that no amount of glossing over or smiley-face masks will ever make the problems we have go away. Which means that most of us are living boring and washed out lies.
So, unless you have a solid foundation in the relationship you have with that special person that would join you for the show, or just don't want to have to work your ass off to avoid the inevitable post-movie "discussion", you might want to try lighter fare. Like "Doubt" maybe, or "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas".
5 comments:
I'm still waiting for "Boy in the Plastic Pants Suit" to hit the stores on DVD.
I saw the trailer for "Revolutionary Road" three times recently and your review sums up everything I felt and read about the film. Mendes thinks suburbia is a hellish, macabre place worthy of a Dali painting.
Along with other losers, I did a solo viewing of "Valkrie" on Friday night. Not awful, but a fairly pedestrian effort overall. The subject is not all that far from "Day of the Jackal" but worlds apart when it comes to a director and screenwriter knowing what to do with suspense. "Valkrie" does okay on the feel part--lots of smoking and you can almost smell the body odor (and those Nazis were some snappy dressers) but can't deliver the goods the way "Jackal" did--building suspense though you obviously know the outcome going in. Tom Cruise really does nothing in the role. He's certainly lucid and competent, but that's about it. Here's my ranking of "holiday season" films:
1. Doubt
2. Frost/Nixon
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. Valkrie
Slumdog could very well get the Big O and I won't argue that it may be "better" than Doubt or Frost/Nixon, but I enjoyed those two more. Doubt is a rare thing: good story, good acting, and very good editing with no drag.
You're bigger than US Steel.
It is always a case of mistaken identity.
I like how the girl turned away when it was time to take the photo. Either she was married or had been burned previously by internet photos....or she simply didn't want to be seen with Appollo.
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