“Revolutionary Road” is the kind of name that is used to brand something by its opposite. In the Connecticut suburb where fictional characters Frank and April Wheeler find themselves, little breaks fresh ground. Looking for the truly rebellious in their 1950s neighborhood would be like searching for orange trees in an Arizona development called Verdant Grove.
Based on Richard Yates’ novel, “Revolutionary Road” joins a lists of late-season film releases being touted for best-picture Oscar consideration. It is nominated for a Golden Globe.
** 1/2 RATING | Marital Drama
Don’t fall for the pretty come-on. Like its cinematic kin, “Frost/Nixon” and “Doubt,” this, too, is a delicately crafted, prestige project whose translation to screen doesn’t deliver the original’s amazements.
“Frost/Nixon” and “Doubt” achieved their deepest, unsettling revelations onstage. The big- screen versions are of solid build, but hardly shattering experiences.
This marital drama comes with name-dropping cachet. Sam Mendes (“American Beauty,” “Road to Perdition”) directs. Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins is on board. Most significantly, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet are reunited for the first time since their “Titanic” success in the 1997 romantic blockbuster.
In the opening scene, Mendes teases an ache to know where Jack and Rose might have ended up had they been transported to a different era.
April and Frank meet beautifully at a party in a New York apartment. She’s an aspiring actress. He’s a WWII veteran, a temporary longshoreman. He’s a guy in keeping with an era that gave us Jack Kerouac.
They share their bright dreams.
Next we see them, they are married, living on a tree-lined strip of asphalt in a two-story clapboard home with two young children. Throughout the quietly grueling film, the kids are AWOL.
Frank writes copy for Knox Business Machines in the city. April joined a community theater troupe.
After a night of theater, they fight on the gravel shoulder of a Connecticut road. Perhaps you know this sort of marital match. Truth fuels the battle, but the actual gestures, the volume, have a kind of overacted theatricality.
Recriminations lead to apologies which lead to a plan to reconnect to their bigger selves. They’ll move to Paris. They’ll turn their delusions back into dreams.
Light streams in. Franks feels emboldened. April comes alive with confidence. Neighbors and friends like Shep and Milly Campbell get anxious. Is being happily settled just a comfy clapboard house of cards?
Yates’ debut novel was published in 1961 to acclaim. It was reprinted in 1983 to equally vigorous kudos. The New York-born author’s place is secure amid the Boswells of suburban agonies like John Cheever and Richard Ford.
Mendes and screenwriter Justine Haythe pare Yates’ laser observations, tighten the action to a claustrophobic extreme. This doesn’t make it richer. Nor does it make it “timeless” — a compliment lavished on the novel.
Like the Wheeler’s arguments, the film rings false. And not because of the notion that the 1950s were the apex of gender hypocrisies.
When veins pop in frustration on his brow, DiCaprio’s performance, if not believable, is at least impressive. Most often, his grasp of Frank is tenuous.
One is left to root for April. Winslet does compelling work capturing her desperation. But the screenplay robs her of any back story, any family.
At least Frank can use his woeful tale about his company-man father as a come-on to a green secretary (Zoe Kazan). Bambi meets Godzilla over a few-martini lunch.
Kathy Bates is Mrs. Givings, the local real estate agent who takes to the beautiful couple. She fondly clucks pleasantries like “toodle-oo,” “I’ve got to scoot” and “just a dollop.” She wants the Wheelers to meet her John, who’s been institutionalized.
Michael Shannon’s character suggests a heavier, edgier David Letterman — an unnerving thought. As April and Frank flaunt and celebrate their bold move, he proves an ally. Of course, madmen don’t stop speaking frankly just because you start to lie to yourself.
There’s a lot of snark in the marketing department of Knox Business Machines. But the satisfying, showy knowingness of the AMC series “Mad Men” (set a few years later) doesn’t fit an adaptation of Yates, whose handling of moment, place and the people entrapped within it endures. Frank Wheeler can’t hold a lit Lucky Strike to Don Draper.
No adaptation should invite the question, “Why now?”
But despite its A-list craftsmanship (especially Thomas Newman’s memorable score), “Revolutionary Road” does just that.
Film critic Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com; also on blogs.denverpostcom/madmoviegoer
“Revolutionary Road”
R for language and some sexual content/nudity. 1 hour, 19 minutes. Directed by Sam Mendes: written Justin Haythe; from the book by Richard Yates; photography by Roger Deakins; starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour, Zoe Kazan. Opens today at the Esquire.
