I really loved Revolutionary Road. I thought it was a great feminist film and was really surprised that it did not get more play around the awards. I thought that Kate Winslet’s performance in Revolutionary Road was her better one of the year, and that the Academy didn’t like Revolutionary Road for a myriad of reasons including: its darkness; that Winslet’s character reminded them of their first wives; and the who does Sam Mendes think he is doing another dark film about American life. It’s a film that told the story of the American woman (and man) before feminism and we all know how women’s issues resonate in Hollywood.
I seriously still can’t believe that Slumdog Millionaire is the best film of the year. it was clearly the most popular within the “people that matter” class, but best? No way. Revolutionary Road was robbed (and it didn’t even get nominated!)
See it for yourself. It’s out on DVD today. Here’s my review.
On a completely different note, Spring Breakdown finally is out on DVD. It’s the straight to DVD release of the Amy Poehler, Parker Posey, Rachel Dratch as a group of friends way beyond spring break years. It’s co-written by Dratch. It’s already at the top of my Netflix list.
Here’s some thoughts that Karina Longworth from Spout had about the film when she saw it earlier this year at Sundance:
I suppose it’s possible to laugh at/with Spring Breakdown as gross out comedy without taking it too seriously, but throughout I could sense there was also some really interesting stuff roiling underneath the top level, without being quite able to put my finger on it until near the end. And then I realized: Spring Breakdown is a parody of Sex and the City-style media, which depict 40-something women as image and sex-obsessed to the point where they might as well be adolescents, but the film enacts that parody by aping the Fight Club model. Having hit bottom by being “themselves,” with nothing left to lose, these three ladies embrace the fact that, in a time and place where there are no constraints, to be “normal” in America is to go to extremes, even if that means being extremely self-destructive. They dive deep into a nihilistic subculture of masochistic thrill seeking. Eventually, they realize that this is not the answer to their woes. But not until it’s too late to stop everything from exploding.
The women in Spring Breakdown look at these very American traditions, including a number of rituals (from keg stands to female salsa wrestling to “talent contests” in which 95% of the participants are there to shake barely-clad assets in synchronicity) entered into with the express purpose of excusing female objectification (if not date rape) and/or inciting promiscuity, as curious outsiders, who are torn between this new world’s obvious attractions and their nagging beliefs and morality. That it even attempts to talk about that ambiguity while occasionally being riotously funny puts it ahead of a great deal of Hollywood comedies that have no problem making it to theaters.
Sounds kind of smart and subversive to me. I’m still confused why a comedy like this is relegated to direct to DVD while this week will bring us another stupid boy comedy The Hangover.
Spring Breakdown Review (Spout Blog)
Re: Spring Breakdown – having Parker Posey, Amy Poehler, and Rachel Dratch in a parody of the Sex and the City mindset sounds delicious. To me Amy Poehler is especially good working with this layered material (“really interesting stuff roiling underneath the top level”). She has such an appealing and likeable persona that it makes the contrast between her surface affability and the dark currents underneath that much more poignant, I guess.
I haven’t caught the more recent episodes of “Parks & Recreation”, but I thought that show was much darker than the more obviously cartoonish “The Office”. Maybe because Michael Scott is such an ass I WANT to laugh at him, while Leslie Knope is more of a tragic figure that I want her to succeed at something.
Yep, excellent point, Melissa about the stupid boy comedies.
I made a short student documentary in which I talked about Spring Breakdown’s relegation to DVD while stuff like the Hangover gets top tier treatment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/ItsJustDifferent#uploads
Watch the english version of The Office, that was horribly dark. The manager in it (the Steve Carrell character, in England played by Ricky Gervais) was so desperate it was uncomfortable to watch.
I love Revolutionary Road. Cried my heart out. The book is similarly moving, because the situation April finds herself in is inescapable: because of the times; because she is a woman; because she is pregnant, she is powerless. I thought it was heartbreaking, that someone who would have flourished were she a man or perhaps living in our own time had to watch her talent, passion and youth go to waste. I felt similarly sorry for Frank on some levels. They were trapped.
The over saturation of media for The Hangover is officially making me insane. I was unable to cry out in anger when I saw it previewed yet again before another summer blockbuster over the weekend. I grumbled loudly through the whole preview before completely losing my cool during the one trick pony Tyson scene. I may have loudly stated “Tyson should not be rewarded for beating his wife and raping women…” I am not ashamed.
Most importantly, thanks for highlighting Spring Breakdown it’s awesome!
I hadn’t heard about Spring Breakdown–thanks for mentioning it! Definitely putting that on the list.
I completely agree with you about Revolutionary Road. A dark, powerful feminist film. Loved it…all except for the coda, where we see Frank raising the kids on his own. Totally unnecessary, in my opinion, for the story itself and for the return of the focus to the man. It was April’s story.