American Beauty Part Two!

Rating: 9/10 (19 November 2014)

Revolutionary Road is a very strong drama that focuses around the happiness, or I shall say unhappiness of a middle-class, married couple of seven years. While not reaching the heights of 1999's American Beauty, this film serves the same purpose. They both touch on the subject of the dour effects that some people have about their status and how they are not living life the way they want to. In other words, this film can serve as a prequel to the fore-mentioned film. But this is a well-acted, tense drama that stays true to the literary source novel.
Sam Mendes, who previously directed American Beauty, directs a film about a couple named Frank and April Wheeler. They are seemingly happy as Frank commutes to New York City for work and April is the typical housewife. But Frank despises his job and April is not pleased about how her life turned out to be. One day, she suggests moving to Paris. While reluctant, Frank finally agrees. But complications ensue which causes problems after problems and can the Wheelers survive these problems?
A film like this needs to rely on their actors and thankfully this film delivers. The film reunites Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet for the first time since their historic pairing in 1997's Titanic. They both are fantastic and their chemistry is as great as always. It's funny because in Titanic, you can see the romantic love. In this film, you can see the tough love. Michael Shannon delivers one of his best performances as the son of the realtors who suffers from mental issues. We also get good performances from Kathy Bates, Kathryn Hahn, and David Harbour.
Overall, Revolutionary Road is an excellent film. It plays out to be a small-town drama, but it goes bigger than that. I liked how this film can be described as a poor-man's American Beauty. It essentially is, but they are both excellent, unique films. The cinematography and costume design is great and same can be said for Thomas Newman's quiet, but excellent score. This is a really good movie built around the talents of Leonardo and Kate. I rate this film 9/10.