Revolutionary Road DVD Review

Ken Loach, Lindsay Anderson and Coronation Street all have their central focus in a film genre known as ‘kitchen sink’. Mike Nichols has flown a flag for this style of ‘reality’ footage on the other side of The Atlantic, probably no more so than in the gritty drama, in which he directed Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, ‘Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’.

Viewing the 119 minutes of Revolutionary Road, I could sense not only the claustrophobic elements of this fantastic 1966 drama but parts also ‘American Beauty’, by which director, Sam Mendes, was rushed into movie consciousness. Interestingly, he directs his spouse, the lovely Kate Winslet (‘April Wheeler’), sharing the title role with her co-star Leonardo DiCaprio (‘Frank Wheeler’), in a story of up-state New York suburbanism. Just as I was totally enamoured by ‘American Beauty’, which I happen to believe is one of the best films ever made, Mendes proves time and time again that he is a master of his art. Yet, call it good fortune, or just happy circumstance, but linking Winslet and DiCaprio together again is closely akin to creating a ‘dream team’.

Just as I felt that I was tiring of Hollywood’s big names being coupled together in ‘yet another big budget movie’ that would be guaranteed to shake the rafters of the Box Office, this pair proves their inestimable worth to the value of that draw. The chemistry of their performances is simply stunning. The enormous range of emotional peaks and troughs that they tackled was no less than miraculous. In fact, I was exhausted watching them. They make a fascinating and eminently believable couple, with Ms Winslet’s faultless clipped Connecticut accent contrasting with DiCaprio’s 1950s everyman drawl, every American man, that is. Mind you, young Leonardo (who will be 35 years old this year) drops in some phrases that are fast becoming his stock-in-trade, with him having played so many roles of that era - “You are really swell”, being notable.

If you find it hard to believe that a movie centred on a married couple’s daily lives could be anything other than enthralling, you would be so wrong. I really want you to get a copy of this film, to sit down comfortably and to view it with an open mind. Some of its content is irrational, as irrational as real life. Yet, it is gritty. It is deceitful. It is loving and intense. Packed full of unfulfilled dreams and a desire to be ‘something special’, or not. It is dramatic and, in its quieter moments, even more so. The supporting cast includes Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon and Richard Easton in a film of such prodigious potency that it genuinely deserves a raft of awards.