Revolutionary Road

Let’s face it.  Most of us are destined to a life of mediocrity, and no matter what we do to try to change that, we get sucked back into the void.  This is not exactly a pleasant thing to admit to oneself, and it’s something that most people will do anything to keep themselves from believing…even if it means self-delusion.  This is the theme at the core of Sam Mendes’s (American Beauty) latest examination of the empty, desperate, banality of suburban American life in “Revolutionary Road.”

I’m sure the suburban hopelessness has all been written about in the many reviews of this film that I have avoided reading, so I’ll spare anyone who may be reading this the regurgitation of the same thoughts.

Most of what I have to say is about the “nutjob” character John Givings, played by Oscar® nominee Michael Shannon.  I’ll also share my take on the central theme later.  However, first you must know about the central characters.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet portray a married couple (the Wheelers) whom surrounding characters perceive to be the perfect couple.  John Givings is a mathematician that was institutionalized due to emotional instability, and recently released.  A cliche?  Perhaps.

John is introduced to the lives of the “perfect” couple by his mother  and real estate agent to the Wheelers (Katy Bates) because she thinks it will be good for him to interact with  people that personify her perception of normalcy.  Without going into the spoiler details, the Wheelers are at a crossroads between remaining settled in their “cookie-cutter” suburban reality and pursuing the kind of romance and greatness they had aspired to when they first met.

What I understand about genius mathematical minds is that they are constantly searching for absolute and provable truth with numbers, equations and formulas.  Maybe that’s why so many of them seem to go mad.

Now I’m sure that the vast majority of people who are declared insane are exactly that, and need to be locked away and/or medically treated so that society at large is a safer place.  That is reality.  But this character John Givings dwells in the celluloid confines of this story as a theatrical device to show that the masses are the truly insane ones and those deemed insane, the rational ones.   I guess  I’m trying to say I believe this film is saying that when someone has the truth on their side, and it flies in the face of everything that is perceived as truth by society at large, or a prevailing social circle, then that person is made an outcast.

As for the film as a whole, it’s the marriage of two people flying apart at the seams when hopes, dreams, and aspirations fall victim to the reality with which they enslave themselves.

What are the questions I walked with?  Does the quintessential suburban life with 2.3 children really have the potential to be the soul crushing existence this film says it does?  Are you better off single, with no responsibilities to family so that you can pursue your own self discovery and absolute highest potential?

Not being married myself, there is one answer that I can only speculate is a potential truth for those in a committed relationship, and that is…even though greatness, romance, and an absolute connectedness to life might be out of reach, it is the things that you find special about each other that must bind you together and make life bearable…even if the world at large cannot see them.

That’s what I perceive to be the truth.  Today.  This of course could change tomorrow.

New York Times Review

Eastern Promises

David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises is a story with the Russian mob in London at its center.  Naomi Watts stars as Anna, a midwife that delivers a child to a mother that dies during childbirth.  Not wanting the baby to get lost in the foster system, Anna begins a quest to find the next of kin of the unfortunate and unidentified mother. This leads her into dangerous intercourse with the Russian underworld, at which point the story takes to its wheels.

Mob stories always have their commonalities when it comes to honor, code, devotion to family, and ambition.  They also tend to appear to us in the form of the fishbowl that is that world.  This one is different in that we see an outsider finding herself entagled in that world with those who have no scruples when it comes to protecting themselves.  The key Russian undesirables are Nikolai the driver (Viggo Mortensen ),  Kirill the soldier (Vincent Cassel), and Semyon the boss (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Anna is a goldfish in an aquarium full of these prianha.

While we are familiar with these types of characters, and these types of stories, this film does not fall victim to predictability.  As situations and circumstances unfold, angles and motivations begin to take on more clarity as we see deeper into who these people are.  This evolution of our understanding comes from a well constructed script (Steven Knight), and Cronenberg’s direction. 

But what is the core message of the film?  Is it merely an exploration of violence and its place in the lives of underworld types?  Is it finding hope and transcendence in the face of unspeakable danger?  These are the questions I walked away with.  Was the director’s intent to provide us with answers to these questions, or merely pose them?

Eastern Promises is definitely worth the watch, and I do recommend it.

Rating:  7/10

Dark Reality, Dark Fantasy, Dark Knight

The comic book has come of age, and I’m not so sure it’s for children anymore.
Christopher Nolan, in directing “The Dark Knight,” has given us grown-ups a graphic-novel allegorical look at what’s ailing us these days.  Since our last look into the window of Gotham City’s reality, crime has been on the wane, and things were looking up for the troubled metropolis.  Christian Bale returns as the Batman, who has been busy instilling fear into the hearts of those that would do harm to the city and the innocent.  Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) is the crusading District Attorney bent on indicting the entire underworld and putting them behind bars.  Lieutenant Gordon (Gary Oldman) is the cop in the trenches providing the Batman with police support.  So there’s a team out there making things safer, and things indeed are getting better…right?

Wrong.

There is a new perpetrator in town, and this guy just plain doesn’t care.  He doesn’t care about you.  He doesn’t care about me.  He doesn’t care about money.  The only thing he is after is chaos.  I’m speaking of course, of the Joker, portrayed by the late Heath Ledger.

Here in his highly anticipated, and final complete performance, Ledger doesn’t merely portray the Joker, he inhabits him.  Or does the Joker inhabit Ledger?  Either way, some may say that his portrayal is a masterpiece in the crafting of a celluloid villain.  Others might say that the critical acclaim he is receiving is over-hyped due to his untimely passing.  Those are two sides of a perfectly valid coin, but what shows up on the screen is a depiction of madness that comes from someplace sinister which never once crosses the line into caricature.  His madness is real, it is tangible, and it is terrifying.  This is not the flamboyant Nicholson Joker that we would like to party with as long as he knows that we’re on the same page.  This Joker’s idea of a good time is bringing terror to people where they live and work, and turning them against each other without any pomp and circumstance.  Nicholson and his toxic balloons are laughable compared to this guy.

In the midst of all of the chaos brought by the new dreaded villain, Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes, refreshingly portrayed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, get caught in the crosshairs by doing their jobs far too well.  As a result, the District Attorney emerges from a perilous situation heartbroken and physically disfigured.  He becomes Two-Face, a man torn between the good and evil within himself.  It is within Dent and the people of Gotham that the struggle between good and evil lies, and not between Batman and the Joker.  The Joker is a force of nature that has the potential to get into all of us, and throw everything into mayhem.  This is a story of how the perpetrators of evil are capable of twisting a peace craving humanity into self destruction, and Dent is a costly casualty.

The cast is rounded out by Michael Caine as Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred, and Morgan Freeman as gadgetry guru, Lucius Fox.  The Scarecrow (Cillian Murphy) makes an appearance early on, and Salvatore Maroni (Eric Roberts) has replaced Carmine Falcone as Gotham’s crime boss.  Alfred provides balance and a voice of reason for Bruce Wayne, and in some ways serves as a Greek chorus in moments like when he declares that “some men just want to watch the world burn.”  Lucius Fox is our ethical voice by calling into question Bruce Wayne’s tactical use of technology.

There are several thematic parallels to our reality that can be drawn from what is happening in Gotham.  Batman’s success at the outset of the film…the surge is working.  There is an evil presence out there and it can make things worse than ever…possibly Iran as a nuclear power or nuclear weaponry in the hands of terrorists.  The use of technology is invasive and violates right to privacy issues on a massive scale…the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).  Whether any political statement is being made by drawing these parallels is up to the viewer.  For me, within the confines of the Gotham world, Batman does what he has to for the greater good, but he crosses a line in making his tactical choice.  Was he right in making that choice?  I believe that for the circumstance he was faced with…yes.  In the real world, it’s debatable.

With a PG-13 rating, this is pretty heavy stuff for the average 13-year-old.  I’m not a parent, so I’m pretty clueless as to how savvy the kids are these days.  However, if I were a parent, I would definitely make it a point to see the picture with my child so that it could be discussed.  Christopher Nolan has given us, what I think, is the most socially relevant story from a classic comic book character.  “V for Vendetta” has a strong social message, but that was not drawn from a classic age comic character, and it is also another essay for another time.
 
The Dark Knight is highly recommended, but I do have a gripe about a massive loose end in the story right in the middle of the film.  I’m hoping there is some footage that perhaps got cut that can be put in on the DVD and resolve this thing for me.  Something happens at a party thrown by Bruce Wayne that is never resolved.  I’m having a hard time getting over that.  Were it not for this, my rating would be a 9.5 instead of the 8.5 I am giving it.  Nevertheless, this is a great picture, and has set the bar higher for the comic book film adaptation.

Rating:  8.5/10