Saturday, January 17, 2009

The Wheelers



this is another movie entry. i just finished watching Revolutionary Road starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. this is one draining movie. read on.







Those who were waiting for the romantic reunion of TITANIC's Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet may be surprised by what they find in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. The movie begins with a sweet scene where... Those who were waiting for the romantic reunion of TITANIC's Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet may be surprised by what they find in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. The movie begins with a sweet scene where Frank (DiCaprio) and April (Winslet) meet at a party, but the rest of this drama based on Richard Yates's novel is devoted to watching the destruction of their marriage and their selves in 1950s suburbia. Frank works at a job he hates in New York City, then commutes home to two children and a wife who feels none of them belong in their cookie-cutter town. Their realtor (a fine Kathy Bates) recognizes their specialness and introduces them to her mentally unstable son (BUG's Michael Shannon, in another good, unhinged performance) in an effort to establish some normalcy for the man. However, Frank and April's marriage is not as perfect as it seems to the outside world, and the audience gets to witness their downfall. With its commentary on conformity and finding identity, REVOLUTIONARY ROAD bears more than a passing resemblance in both theme and tone to the TV series MAD MEN and director Sam Mendes's previous film AMERICAN BEAUTY. The characters here may live in a polite age where men wear ties and hats and women clean the house in skirts and heels, but the dialogue often enters brutal territory. Less capable actors wouldn't have been able to capture the volatile chemistry between Frank and April, but DiCaprio and Winslet are as wonderful at uttering sweet nothings as they are at tearing each other apart with verbal barbs. Mendes, directing his wife, Winslet, for the first time, is a perfect match for the source novel's lack of sentimentality and its wry commentary on life in the 1950s that still resonates half a century later. from RottenTomatoes


like what i said, this is one emotionally-draining movie. it makes you ponder if happiness is really that elusive or even perhaps only an illusion? come to think of it, when you get the things that you thought you want, is everything supposed to end there? it's human nature to crave more but it's also true that one can't have it all. where do you draw the line? some may say contentment. others though, say that the day you stop wanting is the day you stop living. my own two cents worth? you never really know. someday it will just hit you that even though you still want to do a lot of things and achieve more, deep within you already have this tranquil and assuring feeling. a sense that although another step forward is surely welcome, all in all you can honestly say that you're already at peace with where you are standing. the only thing that you want to do now is just chill and enjoy the view.


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