Walking Down Revolutionary Road on DVD by Reg Seeton
Almost
40 years after Richard Yates wrote the emotionally
moving and sociologically powerful novel, Revolutionary
Road, director Sam Mendes and writer Justin Haythe
took on the challenging task of adapting the great
literary work for the big screen. After hitting
theaters in limited release in December 2008 before
going wide in January 2009, the adaptation paid
off for Sam Mendes and stars Kate Winslet and
Leonardo DiCaprio, as Revolutionary Road went
on to garner three Academy Award nominations and
four Golden Globe nods, with Kate Winslet winning
the Globe for Best Actress. Although Revolutionary
Road wasn't a huge windfall at the worldwide box-office,
the success and dramatic effectiveness of the
Mendes adaptation can't be measured in dollars.
With Revolutionary Road set for DVD release on
June 2, the home video market is where the film
can be most appreciated by latecomers to the movie
on their own time.
After revisiting Revolutionary
Road for a second time earlier this week on
DVD in advance of home entertainment release,
the experience once again raised a number of
intriguing questions, namely how a certain wide
swath of the mainstream population will react
(or have reacted) to the film and what it stands
for. In a nutshell, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate
Winslet star as a young couple in love, Frank
and April Wheeler, with their whole future ahead
of them who get trapped in the domestic expectations
and societal pressures of the "white picket
fence" mentality. By that I mean living the
perfect life as dictated by external perceptions
of "what you are supposed to do" over "what
you truly want to do." Frank and April meet
at a party, fall in love, get married, move
into the big suburban house on Revolutionary
Road, have kids, and the perfect life is all
locked down in their mid-twenties.
Not quite. Sometimes an unforeseen hopeless emptiness exists in perfection.
Frank begins to grow tired of his job as a faceless advertising desk jockey while April begins to realize life as a stay-at-home mother in the '50s is a lonely existence. As Revolutionary Road gets going, both Frank and April become imprisoned by their "seemingly" perfect life as if it were a life sentence behind bars. When April spots an opportunity to throw caution to the wind and give both herself and husband a new life in Paris to fulfill the dreams they had when they first fell in love, life begins to get ... let's just say ... very, very interesting on deep sociological and psychological levels. And it just so happens that in university my major was sociology and minor was psychology.
Given
the fact that I've lived the exact opposite
life as the Revolutionary Road characters, I
have strong opinions, convictions, and principles
about the road to the perfect life, the perfect
family and the house with the white picket fence.
It's a life road I was once groomed to walk
down until one day in my final year of university
I saw my future staring back at me. It was a
destiny of working a job I disliked simply due
to an ailing local economy and the social pressure
to get the perfect corporate job, get married,
buy the van, have kids, and live happily ever
after at the age of 21. The questions I soon asked
myself at the time were, "How do you even know
that you want these things? Why do you want
these things? How do you know this is right
for you? Do you know who you are? How can you?
You have the perfect life at 21, so what now
for the next 45 years?" So, without any concrete
answers, I hopped on a train, headed west, traveled
the world, and fulfilled dreams that I once
thought were just that, only dreams. But that's
just my journey, which didn't begin in the 1950s,
which was a time of different societal dynamics
and pressures.
Still, the pressures that Frank and April Wheeler face in Revolutionary Road permeate throughout society today. I find it wholly unfortunate that young people, past and present, are often forced to make huge, life impacting decisions at a time when some don't quite know who they are and what they want out of life. People, as individuals, go through so many changes that most don't resemble the person they were in their early twenties. As Revolutionary Road unfolds, the consequences of certain romantic and dreamy choices come to bear in ways that could have been avoided if only given an ounce of thought on the angles surrounding major life-altering decisions. As Frank and April decide to collectively throw caution to the wind to fulfill their dreams and lead a life free of social expectations, Frank is offered the promotion of a lifetime that forces him to choose between following the dreams he once held dear or following in his father's empty, hollow, and insignificant footsteps. April, however, is determined to break out of her domestic prison and will do anything to free herself of a future as a subservient kept woman.
How
the choices, events, and consequences ultimately
play out in Revolutionary Road serve as inspiration
for moviegoers to not only think before they
act on major life decisions but also motivation
for fulfilling your dreams while having a family
at the same time. It's a tale that sends a powerful
message of "be who you want to be not what others
want to be," along within a fantastically executed
story in the accuracy and detail of the 1950s
setting by Sam Mendes and two near flawless
performances by Kate Winslet and Leo plus two
highly memorable and "lead caliber" supporting
roles by Kathy Bates and Michael Shannon. Revolutionary
Road is easily one of the most intelligent,
riveting, and socially significant movies of
the past year that shouldn't be missed.
Like I mentioned, now that Revolutionary Road finds its way to DVD, the film and its subtext can be most appreciated at home. Although Revolutionary Road isn't too "feature heavy" in the extras department, the movie looks vibrantly fantastic in a way that brings the 1950s alive in similar fashion as AMC's hit series Mad Men. Although some may say the video transfer may be too dark and shadowy, the visual tone of the DVD feels more like an intentional decision of the original source in terms of lighting and cinematography given the film's darker layers. One of the strongest and effective elements of Revolutionary Road is the moving, orchestral score by Thomas Newman with mainly original tracks offset by familiar '50s songs from The Orioles (Crying in the Chapel), The Ravens (Count Every Star), and The Ink Spots (The Gypsy). From an audio perspective, the final mix is not only crisp and well-timed through channels but also silently spacious to allow the softer tones of the '50s to permeate throughout the story.
As
mentioned, Revolutionary Road doesn't lead the
perfect life in extras, but it does offer an
appropriate amount given the emotional weight
and power of the film. While the behind the
scenes "making of" segment, "Lives of Quiet
Desperation," and commentary with director Sam
Mendes and screenwriter Justin Haythe are the
centerpieces of the special features, the disc
also includes deletes scenes with optional commentary
from Mendes and Haythe. Given the social relevance
of the film, Mendes and Haythe break down the
story in great detail that covers everything
from the original novel and the challenges of
adapting and executing the script to the obstacles
of production, establishing the 1950s with accuracy,
and getting the most out of Kate Winslet and
Leonardo DiCaprio. Both as a DVD and film, Revolutionary
Road is a highly effective exploration into
the drama of life, choice and consequence that
can only be enhanced and collectively fulfilling
if people allow themselves to be who they really
are.
Studio: DreamWorks
Release Date: June 2, 2009
Video: Widescreen 2.35:1 Color
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
- French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Features: Commentary with Sam Mendes and Justin Haythe
Deleted Scenes with optional commentary
Lives of Quiet Desperation: The Making of Revolutionary Road
Almost
40 years after Richard Yates wrote the emotionally
moving and sociologically powerful novel, Revolutionary
Road, director Sam Mendes and writer Justin Haythe
took on the challenging task of adapting the great
literary work for the big screen. After hitting
theaters in limited release in December 2008 before
going wide in January 2009, the adaptation paid
off for Sam Mendes and stars Kate Winslet and
Leonardo DiCaprio, as Revolutionary Road went
on to garner three Academy Award nominations and
four Golden Globe nods, with Kate Winslet winning
the Globe for Best Actress. Although Revolutionary
Road wasn't a huge windfall at the worldwide box-office,
the success and dramatic effectiveness of the
Mendes adaptation can't be measured in dollars.
With Revolutionary Road set for DVD release on
June 2, the home video market is where the film
can be most appreciated by latecomers to the movie
on their own time.
Given
the fact that I've lived the exact opposite
life as the Revolutionary Road characters, I
have strong opinions, convictions, and principles
about the road to the perfect life, the perfect
family and the house with the white picket fence.
It's a life road I was once groomed to walk
down until one day in my final year of university
I saw my future staring back at me. It was a
destiny of working a job I disliked simply due
to an ailing local economy and the social pressure
to get the perfect corporate job, get married,
buy the van, have kids, and live happily ever
after at the age of 21. The questions I soon asked
myself at the time were, "How do you even know
that you want these things? Why do you want
these things? How do you know this is right
for you? Do you know who you are? How can you?
You have the perfect life at 21, so what now
for the next 45 years?" So, without any concrete
answers, I hopped on a train, headed west, traveled
the world, and fulfilled dreams that I once
thought were just that, only dreams. But that's
just my journey, which didn't begin in the 1950s,
which was a time of different societal dynamics
and pressures.
How
the choices, events, and consequences ultimately
play out in Revolutionary Road serve as inspiration
for moviegoers to not only think before they
act on major life decisions but also motivation
for fulfilling your dreams while having a family
at the same time. It's a tale that sends a powerful
message of "be who you want to be not what others
want to be," along within a fantastically executed
story in the accuracy and detail of the 1950s
setting by Sam Mendes and two near flawless
performances by Kate Winslet and Leo plus two
highly memorable and "lead caliber" supporting
roles by Kathy Bates and Michael Shannon. Revolutionary
Road is easily one of the most intelligent,
riveting, and socially significant movies of
the past year that shouldn't be missed.
As
mentioned, Revolutionary Road doesn't lead the
perfect life in extras, but it does offer an
appropriate amount given the emotional weight
and power of the film. While the behind the
scenes "making of" segment, "Lives of Quiet
Desperation," and commentary with director Sam
Mendes and screenwriter Justin Haythe are the
centerpieces of the special features, the disc
also includes deletes scenes with optional commentary
from Mendes and Haythe. Given the social relevance
of the film, Mendes and Haythe break down the
story in great detail that covers everything
from the original novel and the challenges of
adapting and executing the script to the obstacles
of production, establishing the 1950s with accuracy,
and getting the most out of Kate Winslet and
Leonardo DiCaprio. Both as a DVD and film, Revolutionary
Road is a highly effective exploration into
the drama of life, choice and consequence that
can only be enhanced and collectively fulfilling
if people allow themselves to be who they really
are.