Revolutionary Road

A Prison Within A Prison
Adapted from Richard Yates first novel, Revolutionary Road exposes the adversities of a young couple living in a Connecticut suburban neighborhood during the 1950's who simply realize too late that they were never meant to be.

Frank Wheeler (Dicaprio) and April Wheeler (Winslet) feel as though they must standout from all the other mundane and ordinary suburbanites in their neighborhood. Frank, a marketer who works for Knoxx business (equivalent to IBM in those days) machines, is profoundly miserable at his job as he diligently works in a cubicle and engages in secretarial affairs with the novice typist. April, a struggling actress, who apparently never received her big break in show biz does not like to talk about her failures.

During the beginning of the film, we are introduced to a quick flashback of how they met at a party while they were younger; Frank exhibits his witty, charming charisma as he gives April the impression of eventually leading a spontaneous...

This Ain't Ozzie And Harriet
Over the past period I have seemingly endlessly retailed the experiences of my young adulthood during the 1960s, the time of the "generation of `68". That makes me, obviously, a child of the 1950s, the time period of this very interesting movie, "Revolutionary Road" based on a book by the darkly sardonic writer, Richard Yates. I have also seemingly endlessly pointed out my experiences and the effects they had as a result of growing up among the marginally working poor in that `golden age'. I am fond of saying that I didn't know there was any other condition than being poor for a long time. Well, I did find out there was and although in my youth I would still have had a hard time relating to the story line of this film. The `trials and tribulations', then, of an upwardly mobile, prosperous young couple, the Wheelers, Frank and April, with the mandatory two charming children and a nice leafy suburban house in some nice town in Connecticut would have gone over my head. Now though I can a...

Study of a dissolving marriage.
Revolutionary Road is definitely a tough movie to watch (which strikes me as very Kate Winslet these days. Make a HAPPY movie, Kate!!), but it smacks of reality in a thought-provoking and almost gut-wrenching way.

Winslet plays April Wheeler, a stifled suburban housewife, opposite Leonardo DiCaprio's Frank Wheeler. In the 1950s, the couple marries and moves out of the city due to an unexpected pregnancy. Their dreams of living abroad, treading the boards, etc., are pushed aside to make way for the realities of life with two kids.

One day, April comes up with a novel idea - chuck it all and move to Paris. After some persuading, Frank agrees, and the two begin planning their adventure. As they do so, April and Frank are happier and more in love than they've been in a long time. However, another unplanned pregnancy dashes their dreams of living abroad, and their lives together crumble as a result.

This movie is a study of two things: social mores of the...

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