Revolutionary Road Review

Revolutionary Road is a 2008 British-American drama film directed by Sam Mendes. It also brings together the famous cute titanic couple – Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet. Well, this time they are not cute. I mean they are characterized not to look cute. Rather, they portray a young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s who struggle to come to terms with their personal problems. There is nothing extraordinary in this movie. Its more of a simple, natural tale documenting the struggle of a young couple, very suavely filmed by Sam Mendes ( American Beauty , Road to Perdition ). It does have his stamp of a slow paced meaningful cinema. Obviously everyone has acted wonderfully, being a Sam’s film. DiCaprio is one hell of a good actor. I mean he suits any role in any generation, being it the 19th century young lad or the 20th century cop (which he loves doing film to film) . But alas, he has never received an Oscar. Reason being, he still has that chubby childish look in him which we never really associate 100% to his role. He has done a lot of good acting in this movie, but I’m sure he is going to be awarded by none. Then you have the dynamic Kate playing this really irritated with life kinda wife. And I’m not surprised of her bagging the best role in the movie, being the director’s real wife. But she has done a great performance as always. Not one error you could spot in her acting, making her the only contention for Oscars from this camp. The next performance that stands out in my mind is that of Kathy Bates, who again joins with DiCaprio and Kate after Titanic. Remember the woman who played the role of Rose’s aunt in Titanic, who’s the only one supporting Jack & Rose’s love ? I always liked watching her perform.

The next thing standing out is the cinematography by Roger Deakins who also worked in movies like No country for old men, A Beautiful Mind, Fargo and The Shawshank Redemption. You can the expect the quality out of him.

Music is good. Thomas Newman is again a famous composer who has films like The Shawshank Redemption, The Horse Whisperer, Road To Perdition , Cinderella Man and the Good German to his credit.

Overall, by now you could’ve judged what kind of quality you can expect from these established technicians. It’s a film you should watch if you don’t want miss any good quality world cinema. Again, i’m not saying it’s a great film, but its simple and neat. I mean, c’mon it’s a Richard Yates’ novel! Its sure to be good.

Rating:
3/5

Trivia:
It's the first time Kate Winslet plays a character named April, the second time Leonardo DiCaprio plays a character named Frank, and the third time Kathy Bates plays a character named Helen.