Trudging down Revolutionary Road

Rating: 4/10 (29 January 2009)

Revolutionary Road can hardly be called a film in any serious sense of the word. It seems more like a series of screen tests, some more successful than others. Both Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet emote vigorously until they appear to get severe hemorrhoids (fatal in the case of the Winslet character). Sometimes the only interest in this film is the exquisite 50s design. I think Sam Mendes is basically a theater director and seems to have taken no interest in the cinematography -the lighting is wildly inconsistent, sometimes sensitive and moody, other times like a mediocre British studio film. On the positive side and unlike the stultifying Benjamin Button movie it was only 2 hours long.