Problems with approach and aspects of writing are covered by strong performances to make a generally convincing and engaging drama

Rating: Null/10 (26 March 2009)

Revolutionary Road was another in the very crowded period ahead of the awards season, rolling into UK during a very busy January/February period for "worthy" films. Some of them were genuinely good and some of them were perhaps cosmetically worthy but weren't as good as they were been touted as. I caught this one of the awards bunch after Oscar and Bata were out of the way so I wasn't really concerned by these matters while watching it. Being set in a suburb of America in the 1950's, it is no surprise to anyone to learn that people are trapped and perhaps a little unhappy with their cosmetically "perfect" life Â– this is territory that has been covered before and covered well, to the point where it is hard to believe anyone in this setting/period was ever happy with their lot. Frank and April are a couple with young children, he is a salesman in a job he hates and she is a housewife. We are shown a little of their past and meeting but mostly we are put straight into the middle of a relationship that is being stifled and the two of them are short with one another at least. They plan a way out of the trap they feel stuck in but, while the details may not be obvious, you do sort of know the vague arch that the narrative is about to take.
In itself this is not a problem because the scenario being familiar doesn't mean that everything about the film will be as well. In the sweep it is important to note that the film does work as being a quite realistic and depressing vision of long-term relationships. As such it engaged me and I did really enjoy the film and it seemed to move very quickly. This is different from saying it is brilliant and perfect though, because it isn't. The narrative arch doesn't allow much empathy for the characters and this appears to bleed into the scripted creation of them because I never felt like I was allowed to be inside the marriage at any point and that I was always watching things from the side. This problem is minimised though because both of the lead performances are very strong when they are given the chance. DiCaprio and Winslet play very well off one another and their convincing relationship made a lot of things work.
It is almost a shame then that the narrative does tend to find bigger things for them to argue over other than minor comments or gestures, because in these moments the film and the actors are at their most convincing. When people feel trapped or want out of a relationship, not only do you have the big fights but you also have the pointless niggles and fights over nothing that are all fed by the bigger issue. The film did not create enough of these (the scenes after the play were the closest to this) and the bigger things do feel more melodramatic without these. It doesn't help that, to get the bigger thoughts of the characters across, the script uses Shannon's Givings to say things out loud. His performance is good but his character and his use within the film is weak and he never feels like a person so much as an easy device pulled in to help the writers.
Visually the film looks good, It doesn't quite have the feel of the period in the way that Todd Haynes' Far From Heaven did but it still works. Costumes and sets deserved credit while Mendes and Deakins work well with the camera without channelling Douglas Sirk. Indeed Mendes does direct well but he doesn't seem to have much love for his characters, letting them go at one another with bitterness without really seeking to understand or feel for them. Maybe I'm putting too much at his feet in this regard but I did get the impression of him sitting back rather than being involved.
Despite my problems with it, Revolutionary Road is still a good film, just not the brilliant one that much of the awards hype suggested. The ground has been covered before and there are problems with the approach and the script but it still engages and depresses as it should. DiCaprio and Winslet are both very good and, as a bitter cynic, I did enjoy seeing them acting out the logical progression of their "love" in Titanic. Not a perfect film by any means but a good solid entry in the suburban-misery genre (and it must soon qualify as a genre).