Revolutionary Road

**** Stars

Revolutionary Road is everything I could have hoped for and more. Every scene is electric, every line is heartbreaking, and every action is carried by another that leads its leading couple down a path of self-destruction. Revolutionary Road is a timeless American film that digs deep into your personal life without your written consent.

Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet play Frank and April Wheeler, a married couple living in 1950's suburb without any sign of escape. Escape from what you ask? Well I can't vouch for the Wheeler's because I didn't live through the 50's, but from an outside perspective, the Wheeler's are living one of my biggest nightmares. They have retired from life, from living, and from feeling any kind of wondrous spontaneity. They have also lost the moment that made them realize they were meant for each other.

Director Sam Mendes, who in my mind is becoming a very underrated director (he is not a one-hit wonder with American Beauty) has crafted a brilliant character study. Frank works in the city for ten hours a day at a job he can't stand. April is a housewife and retired actress raising two kids and going insane in the process. After almost losing it all in a fight after one of April's abysmal plays, they decide to risk everything and attempt to move to Paris. Paris represents the escape and wonderment from a reality that's breathing way too heavily down the couple's neck. Once they get there, April will work for the government as a secretary and Frank will try and find himself. It's the perfect plan and perfect future, until things get in the way. April gets pregnant again and that bright and shining escape dims away into an everlasting darkness.

The film evolves as a trainwreck, but it's never a film that is hard to watch because every shot and scene is so perfectly executed. Not for one second does this feel like Titanic 2. I was really afraid that people were going to view this as Jack and Rose together after the honeymoon stage ended, but it hasn't. And I am so glad! This is one the greatest films of the decade.

And I stand by that statement. Even though The Wrestler is my #1 film of the year, this one is equally worthy. It has been one hell of a season for movies, and Revolutionary Road is a monumental aspect of it. Winslet and Dicaprio are mesmerizing and Michael Shannon deserves a best supporting actor nomination for his role as a mentally unstable son in the Wheeler's neighborhood. But what if he is the only one who gets life? Ponder that while watching the film.

I am sad because this film probably won't receive a best picture nomination, but maybe that's how it should be. Revolutionary Road never takes the stage, it haunts you behind a curtain that is forever waiting to be opened.