Revolutionary Road (2008/DreamWorks/Paramount Blu-ray + DVD)
Picture:
B/C+ Sound: B/B- Extras: B- Film: B
Without
enough due credit, Sam Mendez has become one of the best directors of his time
with critical and commercial successes like American Beauty, The Road To
Perdition and Jarhead. I liked all of those films and had high
expectations for Revolutionary Road. The 2008 drama reunited Leonardo DiCaprio and
Kate Winslet (co-stars of James Cameron’s Titanic)
as a couple moving to the suburbs and seeing their marriage challenged. They married when they had dreams, but now,
she is unhappy and wants to go off and do more as they promised each other, but
he is stuck in his advertising job and even having an affair.
The title
refers to the upscale planned housing locale they have moved to promising piece
and happiness, but turning out to be a prison and private hell that brings out
the worst in their situation. Kathy
Bates is the landlady who is in her own imagined world, while her mentally ill
son (Michael Shannon in an underrated performance) is the one who sees things
as they truly are. Running 118 minutes,
it is never boring and despite covering some ground about the downside of
suburbia we have seen before, is an extensive character study that is bold and
among a small handful of mature adult films that were made last year. The leads are amazing and if you missed this,
now you can catch up to it. Highly
recommended!
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is another great shoot by the great
Roger Deakins, A.S.C, B.S.C., lensed around the time he delivered Doubt and The Reader (both reviewed on Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) and
though it has some soft points being a Super 35mm shoot, has some fine shots
throughout. I just wish there had been
more of them here. Still, it is better
than the anamorphically enhanced DVD, which seems to have major issues
capturing the exceptional production design and detail in the film. It is a fine period piece, thanks also to the
Albert Wolsky costumes and Kristi Zea production design.
The Dolby
TrueHD 5.1 mix on the Blu-ray is warmer and richer enough than the Dolby
Digital 5.1 mix in both formats that it is the definite sonic winner, though
this is a dialogue-based film. Thomas
Newman’s score also benefits from the warmness and fullness the True HD has
over the older codec.
Extras on
both versions Lives Of Quiet Desperation, a making-of featurettes, deleted
scenes with optional commentary by Mendez and Screenwriter Justin Haythe (who
adapted the Richard Yates novel) and a feature length audio commentary by
Mendez and Haythe. The Blu-ray adds the
trailer in HD and Richard Yates: The Wages Of Truth featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
