An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Nick Curtis's rating
Reader rating
Range and skill: Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are back with a bang
Glamour: the pair walk hand in hand on the Leicester Square red carpet
Kate Winslet clearly saves her histrionics for acceptance speeches. Her performance as a thwarted Fifties housewife in Revolutionary Road is a masterpiece of understatement. She fully deserves the plaudits for her moving, nuanced acting in this film and The Reader: those two Golden Globes that made her all gushy, and nominations in the Bafta and Evening Standard Awards with Oscar nods sure to follow.
The only surprise is that her co-star, Leonardo DiCaprio, hasn’t been equally lauded. The low-key intensity he shares with Winslet is what makes the sudden eruptions of rage and panic so shocking. It couldn’t be further removed from the duo’s first pairing in the bombastic Titanic.
This is a subtle, elegant and enclosed study of suburban disenchantment, based on an acclaimed novel by Richard Yates. Directed by Winslet’s husband, Sam Mendes, it feels like a companion piece to his first film American Beauty, another artful tale of middle-class anguish.
We first see Kate and Leo, aka Frank and April Wheeler, at a party bolstering their mutual attraction by hinting at rich and interesting inner lives. Next thing you know, they’re 30 and married with two children in suburban Connecticut. Frank goes off to the job that apparently killed his father, selling adding machines in the city, while April simmers at the stove. Occasionally they snap at each other, big time. They can’t see how golden and special they look to others’ eyes.
Briefly, the couple invest their hopes in a romantic dream of escaping to Paris, where — radically for the time — April will work and Frank will discover himself. But circumstances conspire against them. It doesn’t end well.
On the red carpet at last night’s premiere Edith Bowman called the story “heart-wrenching”, while Sophie Ellis Bextor opted for “depressing”. They’re both right.
The story is merciless in its concentration on Frank and April. Their neighbours and Frank’s workmates are there as counterpoints or exemplars of the couple’s misery.
The Wheelers’ children appear on screen for the first time, tellingly, after Frank has engineered a shabby afternoon tryst with a trusting secretary at work. The most vivid supporting character is Kathy Bates’s estate agent, who sold them the house in Revolutionary Road.
Mendes and his cinematographer Roger Deakins present a sort of distillation of the Fifties, the dream and the nightmare. The colours are warm and attractive, Kate and the cars pleasantly curvy. The men wear skinny ties and sharp suits, and pregnant women restrict themselves to two Martinis and a pack a day, à la Mad Men.
I didn’t actually see a picket fence, but metaphorically it’s there as a sign of security and imprisonment.
Mendes deliberately shuts out the wider world: the Cold War, segregation, teenagers, rock music. His decision to shoot everything on location, even cramped arguments in kitchens, adds to the sense of stifled claustrophobia. The haunting, recurring piano theme in Thomas Newman’s score underlines it. When Frank’s temper flares, or April jiggles disloyally on a dancefloor, it’s devastating.
This is, then, a beautifully crafted chamber piece, and a chance for both Winslet and DiCaprio to display their range and skill.
One quibble. I get a bit annoyed when people like Mendes — very talented, married to a beautiful film star — make films about how awful it is to be ordinary. Much as I enjoyed the depiction of yearning and frustration in this film and American Beauty, I kind of hope he’s not planning a trilogy.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
I think everything about the film was superb, the adaptation, the acting, the direction, the lighting, the music. Everything except for the fact that the sum of the parts made for nothing more than a domestic suburban drama too minor in content to be of any real consequence as a feature film. And much like 'Babel' the film thought it was more important than it really was!
- Roger Goldsmith, Southsea, Hampshire
I think Nick has summarized and reviewed the film brilliantly - it is an excellent review/critique. As worthy as the performances were however, I too found the overwhelmingly powerful depiction of ordinary life as having little or no value so disingenuous that the entire film felt trivial and mundane - ironic to say the least. Perhaps wait till the DVD comes out and the need arises to dampen the spirits a bit - a perfect wet blanket.
- Will, London
Batman Forever was actually OK. Batman and Robin was the real stinker
- Norbert, Wimbledon
At least with Batman, you get to see action Simon, and that certainly wakes you up!
Personally I wouldn't go to see a film like Rev. Road even if I was paid !
- Cath, London
When I watch a movie, I like to be entertained. I like thought provoking films. Films that stay with you after you have watched it. This film will still with me alright. It will stay with me because I wasted a couple of hours of my life watching one of the most boring films ever to hit the screen. The only good thing to come from this movie was that it eventually ended! And at one point, I didn't think even that was going to happen!!
Up there with Batman Forever as one of the worst films I have ever seen.
- Simon, Gosport, Hampshire
Morning:
13°c
