American Beauty 2

Rating: Null/10 (18 February 2009)

"Revolutionary Road" is director Sam Mendes's squeal to his "American beauty" in a thymic sense, with a variation. From the original theme of what you see on the surface is deceptive spins the second subject: living with you own mediocrity (or failing to live with it, in a more literal sense than you may care to see).
One scene at the beginning says all: a suburban train station filled with men on their way to work. The almost endless shades of grey and blue on the suits and hats of this army of middle-class office workers in the 50s make for the most aesthetic frame you have ever seen on a movie screen. But if you replace these eye-pleasing shades with black, this place can be transformed instantly into a suburban train station in Japan. It's a universally recognized fact, neither complimentary nor detrimental, that Japanese thrive on conformity in public. Conformity feeds anonymity, and often mediocrity. Turning back to our original scene, can the same be said for the American counterparts in the 50s? Well, at least not for our protagonist Frank Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio), not initially anyway.
The "Wheeler couple", the other being aspiring actress April (Kate Winslet) is all but admired by everybody in their suburban neighbourhood as a model couple  young (just turning 30), two lovely kids, refined and well-liked in both work and social circles. What more can you ask? But that is only what meets the eyes. As an actress, she has never risen above "unsuccessful". And while his earns enough from his job to support a decent living standard of a suburban middle-class family, he starts to be haunted by the vision of following the footsteps of his father: working twenty years in the same company towards a dead end with nothing to show for when it's all over.
That is the basic premise and the rest of the story serve to manifest what is evident at the outset. The plan to for the family to move to Paris to make a new start brings a period of joy and expectation. The noble suggestion comes initially from April who intends to support the family (on generous salaries offered to secretary positions by NGOs in Europe) while Frank and take time to discover his talents, whatever it may be. Frank's initial determination is clouded when offered a good promotion by the big boss. April's unexpected pregnancy finally kills the plan. Irreversible damage, however, has already been done.
The two most significant scenes occur at the beginning and the end of the plan, not literally but metaphorically. A couple (neighbours, and the wife also the real estate agent through which they bought the house) asks Frank and April to spend some time with their son John (Michael Shannon) who is about their age and just received a partial discharge from a mental institute. It is John, an intellectual (with a PhD) and a mental patient, who really understands their aspirations, both Frank and April agree. Although it is just a brief social meeting, they have from John encouragement and support never forthcoming from friends and neighbours. Subsequently, announcement of abandonment of the Paris plan sends John into such a fit of outrage that he starts hurling insults at them. This is the most ironically revealing scene because these insults from a madman have the precision of a surgical knife, cutting open and exposing their heart. This is the real beginning of a tragic end.
While is has seem for a while that Frank and April are on the same frequency, that is an illusion. Frank is, in the depth of his heart, not truly discontented with the status quo. The promotion offer is all he needs. April, on the other hand, is stifled beyond the point where she can bear. Perhaps her own failure as an actress is the root of the problem. But in any event, she is the one that truly cannot live with her own mediocrity.
The strength of this movie is in the strong script and superb acting, particularly Winslet whom her loving husband in real life, Mendes, must have enjoyed directing. While he lets the actors do their part mostly, occasional use of the camera has good dramatic effects: angled shots, manipulation of focuses, reflections in mirror, characters frame in windows and such things. The entire film is shot is a warm, golden hue, which makes it so much more ironic, particularly in what must have already now become the famous "the last breakfast" scene which sent the worst shudder that I have ever experienced in a movie down my spine.