Thought provoking, haunting, uncomfortable mirror - in other words AWESOME!

Rating: 10/10 (8 June 2009)

Praising individual performances seems such a trivial tribute to this masterpiece... but boy do they deserve praise! I did not bat one disinterested eyelid while watching this dark insight into 1950's East coast suburbia. The quintessential American dream - an adorable young couple, a house on a manicured lawn, kids playing, summer trappings, friendly neighbors - in stark contrast to the debilitating internal conflict and crumbling foundation of the focal social construct - the married life of Frank and April. Sounds clichÃ©d but so is breathing and eating. How did we get here? Start with a layer of sweet-talking, charm and maybe physical chemistry, knead that into a wedding cake mix, pile on top of that foolishly optimistic unfulfilled personal dreams, cover with social pressures, appearances and innocent children's futures and top off with self-inflicted guilt brought on by impulsive behaviors. Sprinkle the need for caring and being cared all over that concoction and add a dash of desire to feel important. That is surefire recipe for disaster even on its own, but when a mentally 'unstable' John Givings (Michael Shannon) projects piercingly true insight into what issues are really at play versus what the protagonists fool themselves into believing, it is accelerated into a hopelessly fast and explosive meltdown. I am inclined to wonder though, if the setting of this movie was 2009, would things have turned out differently. This movie will haunt me for days to come. Bits and pieces are certainly lodged permanently in the psyche.