Revolutionary Road

Sam Mendes who has served us heady cocktails like American Beauty, Road to Perdition and others comes up with a corrosive rendition of the America in the 1950's with the Eisenhower era struggling with the the ever entangling fabric of marriage where the despair on the assembly line like workmanship was shredding the institution of marriage. Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet reunite after Titanic (that was ages ago) and their onscreen chemistry has not lost any of its sheen rather matured like old wine and is crackling throughout the film. This has to be one of Leo's most maturd performance and Kate sweeps through the film canvas with a towering performance with her expressions of despair saying more than a page of dialogues. They are a couple who marry after meeting in a club and soon realise that though they are considered special in the neighbourhood, he is working in the same organizations as his father which he wished would never happen while she is a failed actress. The fantasy of Paris providing them all they never had becomes more than a fleeting thought much to the ridicule of the people they know. The insane Michel Shannon serves as the sane voice of the room and is spot on with his observations which undress the shields worn by the characters around him. He has woven an unforgettable piece in the short but vivid screentime in the film. The director does justice to the book by the same name by Richard Yates on which it is based upon, with a constant undercurrent of disillusionment where the Wheelers look towards extramarital sex as a cure for their problems or atleast as a respite. The ordinary couple get crushed by the false image created by the people around them and let loose the inner demons on to each other. Kate gets pregnant which Leo, who has suddenly found a possible promotion round the corner in his job and is having second thoughts of going to Paris, even uses the pregnancy as a justification for not crossing the Atlantic. The most moving scene is Kate standing in her living room after a messed up attempt at an home abortion to get back at Leo. This bout between the two ends with a tragedy which was inevitable and you shall leave the theatre with a punch to the gut. The couple of intimate scenes are an expression of the coiled up emotions letting go in the sack and the fluctuating emotional fortunes of Kate are reminiscent of almost a Jack Nickolsonesque performance, only much less loud but still very effective. She thankfully won a Oscar this year for the Reader and is turning out to be top notch Actor with a tremendous long term heritage in the making. Sam has extracted the best out of his wife in the film and Leo has shades of a schoolboy refusing to grow up and unwilling to take the bull by the horns for which he pays dearly in the end.
If you are in the mood for a feel good light entertainment then please dont go down Revolutionary road but for a movie lover to the core with a strong gut and a heart do go down this road and you shall get a lot to chew upon and ponder about, and carry home three performances of memorable proportions.

Rating: ****