What happens to a dream deferred?

Rating: 10/10 (4 January 2009)

'Revolutionary Road' digs and picks at a truth so awful and ugly that hiding it or pretending as though it doesn't exist is no longer an option. It is a festering sore below the surface. Ready to explode.
A 1950s Americana suburbia. Quaint little houses. Charming people. Green lawns filled with young rambunctious children. It is the image of desire, of success. But what goes on within those walls when the doors are closed to curious neighbors? What happens when the charming life you lead is anything but? A lie. A carefully constructed, well-manicured lie.
Sam Mendes leads the star-studded adaptation of Richard Yates' novel. It is an explosive observation of suburban life gone astray. Frank and April Wheeler find themselves playing the part. Doing what society tells them is the proper thing to do. Get married. Settle down. Have children. It is the life neither of them wanted. They abuse each other emotionally. Rip each other apart. Tear each other down. Because there is no one else to run to. No way out. No more fake it till you make it. 'Revolutionary Road' is a tragedy. A full-blown suburban tragedy.
The reunion of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet find the two under very different circumstances than 'Titanic'. These are two extraordinary performances from two of today's greatest screen talents. They hold no punches in this haunting tale, exploding with powerful emotions that help make 'Revolutionary Road' one of the most explosively entertaining pictures of the year. These are two individuals stuck with each other. Desperately looking for a way out. Putting on a show even to each other, pretending and promising that everything can be okay. And Winslet, who has been criminally passed up for an Oscar five times now, gives this performance everything she can. It is an absolutely devastating but profound role.
Sam Mendes is no stranger to suburban turmoil. He directed 'American Beauty' with a fierce satirical eye. This time around, there's a much more suffocating sense of dread. It's a brooding atmosphere that intoxicates the senses, and 'Revolutionary Road' has a lot to say about this so-called American dream. Michael Shannon finds himself in the role of a mentally disturbed man, the son of the Wheeler's realtor. He makes keen observations about the world around him, and while his condition render his words as insanity, there is an undeniable truth to them. All the lies, all the emptiness. 'Revolutionary Road' is a downer, but difficult to argue against.
Hot to the touch, 'Revolutionary Road' stirs the pot and turns traditional expectations on its side. It's a disturbing tale of isolation and hopelessness. Mendes begs the question, at what cost? At what cost are we willing to put on this charade? To pretend to be something we aren't? It's one of this year's very best pictures, something that will leave a heavy shroud over you that's shockingly difficult to shake off.
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