Revolutionary Road (2008)

Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio play April and Frank Wheeler in this depressing drama about a dissolving marriage in the 1950s. The film is dedicated to Joe and Mia, the children of Kate Winslet and this movie's director Sam Mendes. I realize it's because it's Winslet and Mendes' first film collaboration, but if I were them, I'd rather dedicate something much more uplifting to my children. I'd also like to chose one where we don't see at least eighty cigarettes being smoked.

Within the first ten minutes you can see what kind of trouble we're in for - not only with the words but with the visuals. As they walk down that long hall to exit the building, the overhead lights hit Frank while April is in the dark, and then April while Frank is in the dark over and over again until it's clearly evident these two are not on the same wavelength. After their argument on the side of the road, the interior shot of the car makes it look like they're so far away they're not even traveling in the same vehicle.

Mendes had the production rehearse for three and a half weeks before filming and it shows. Every line sounds like it's come out of the moment, every character is clearly thinking something even when they're saying nothing. More of the aforementioned visual metaphors abound and the whole production is beautifully shot. But it's such a tough story to digest as a helpless audience member.

Rating: 3/5
Recommended for: if you're not feeling crappy enough and really want to take yourself down a peg.

The Reader (2008)

The situation one puts himself or herself in to watch The Reader is an interesting one. You know going in that this is not going to be a lighthearted film. Its story is connected to the Holocaust (although it is not a "Holocaust movie") and that's never a happy thing. On top of that it can be hard to connect to the characters for the first hour or so.

Just as I was considering dismissing the film, I found myself hooked and tied to the two main characters and they didn't let me go until the end.

One day on his way home in 1950s Berlin, Michael Berg (David Kross) falls ill. He is taken care of by a stranger who sees to it that he makes it home ok. Several months later he has recovered and goes to thank her. He finds her beautiful and mysterious and can't help but be drawn to her. Her name is Hanna Schmitz, she works on a tram, and that's mainly all we get to know about her for quite some time.

Even though Hanna is several years older than Michael, they embark on a romantic affair which ends up containing a routine in which she makes him read to her. One day Michael goes to her apartment and finds she's packed up and left. Several years later she's back in his life again. Now he's a law student and he's attending the trial of several female former Nazi prison guards. Hanna happens to be one of them. While Michael is dumbstruck about this revelation he makes another that could have a serious outcome on her sentencing. But the question is whether he will speak up or not.

Kate Winslet won an Oscar for her role as Hanna, a woman who suddenly becomes more human right in front of our eyes. The off-putting disposition Winslet buries into at the beginning (the same that played into my wanting to give up on the movie) is what allows her to really showcase the transition as she opens up a little and fights internal battles that play out on her face. Ralph Fiennes is also in the film as "present-day" Michael demonstrating a closed-off nature that much mirrors the one presented earlier by Winslet.

No spoiling of the ending will take place here, but I will say this: Watch it with someone you care about. You'll need a hug when it's over.

Rating: 4/5
Recommended for: Those looking for a film about human nature.