Revolutionary Road

A tour de force of sadness ... this is a tough film, yet one of the finest films I've seen. Hats off to Sam Mendes for bringing this powerful story to the silver screen. And thanks to Paramount Vantage (and others) for this incredible achievement.

Set in the Connecticut suburbs of the mid-fifties, we watch a young, up-and-coming, family make their way into life, and into chaos.

Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler and their two children are living the American Dream, or is it a nightmare?

At the heart of the story, a conflict - between dreams and reality.

When I counsel, I often use the A-B Game - where A is our reality and B is our dream. What we all know is this: reality is complex and filled with bits and pieces we could never have foreseen. Whereas a day-dream is clear and happy - that's the nature of a day-dream. It's always better than what we have, and what we have pales in comparison to the meanderings of our imagination. When we play the A-B Game, reality always looses!


Paris in springtime, or scrambled eggs in Connecticut. Hands down, Paris wins.


At what point is a dream worth it?


And, at what point should we seek our dreams in our reality? Just how bad is our reality anyway?


If the story has a point, it's this: a dream held unreasonably can kill! But ... and that's the point as well ... should we just chuck our reality, if we can (and they could), and go full-tilt for Paris? Maybe. Maybe not!


Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler (Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet) - the perfect family. He's employed in the same company for which his dad worked. He's a young executive, but he doens't want to be there. He really doesn't know what he wants to do. Mrs. Wheeler's the quintessential Fifties housewife - a great dinner scene - all the recipes of the Fifties, including a pineapple with goodies affixed by toothpick - someone did their homework. The cars, the decor - it's all the Fifties, in all of its glory, and stifling horror!

The office environment in which he works - the men rule; the women serve. The neighborhood - where pretense and image are everything. We're happy, aren't we?


The Wheelers both yearn for something neither of them understand.


So they hatch a plan - we have enough money along with selling the house, and we can move to Paris, to fined ourselves and what it is that we need to be and do. But Mr. Wheeler doesn't really know what he wants. But that's okay. Mrs. Wheeler will go to work for the State Deparment - the pay is good, and Mr. Wheeler can think and write, and find out what he wants.


What a dream - it's shared with co-workers and neighbors, but Mr. Wheeler drags his feet.


And then, a promotion offered, and an unexpected development - suddenly the dream is in jeopardy.


The audience watches Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler do a slow-motion plunge into chaos.


So what's the dream?
What's the reality?
Where's the interface?
Who are we?
And what's it all about?


If you go, be prepared for a soul-searching experience. Go with some friends, exit quietly, head for a restaurant, grab a couple of stiff drinks and let the conversation begin.

American Teen

A documentary totally entertaining ... centered around five students, their families and their friends, from Warsaw High School in Indiana.

This remarkable experience was produced from 1200 hours of video filtered and condensed into a 90-minute slice of life.

I saw it at the ArcLight in LA (Sunset Blvd) - afterward, four of the five students were there for Q&A. Hannah The Rebel was missing. Later, on my way out of the theater, she was at the display table - seems Hannah had been shopping at Amoeba Music just up the street.

Now, two years after filming, they confirmed the accuracy and veracity of the documentary. Would they change anything? They all agreed: the reality and "drama" of their senior year and family life was accurately portrayed. Only Mitch (The Heartthrob) would change one item - not the film, but the story - he broke up with Hannah by TM - a callous deed that haunts him.

Hannah, by the way, after making her way out to San Francisco, discovered it was too expensive and realized that she's an East Coast gal and is now studying film at SUNY.

"Everyone had a mic on at one time or other" - a large high school in the heartland of America - none of the five knew at the time they'd be the featured personalities, and all of them got used to the camera's presence.

For me, a parent, the disturbing elements were the parents. At one point, I said to my wife, "Shoot the parents." They were loving and supportive, but for the Princess and the Jock, the subtle but persistent pressure to excel was intense. It was hard to watch, and I found myself reflecting on how my wife and I had done with our children, now adults themselves. When Megan and Colin were asked about it, they both agreed: their folks, while pressuring them, were hugely supportive and loving.

Having spent most of my life in and around the Midwest, I appreciated the restraint shown by Nanette Burstein in portraying the Midwest, too often the butt of mindless East or West Coast jokes.

The Midwest is real people, real families, real students, with all the hopes and dreams, fears and frustrations, felt by by human beings everywhere.

Like all of us in high school, the five represent the archetypes: The Princess (Megan), The Jock (Colin), The Heartthrob (Mitch), The Geek (Jake) and The Rebel (Hannah).

I use the word "archetype" to underscore the fundamental character of these personalities - they just are, and in high school, they're raw and pure. Even in maturity, they persist, though refined and more balanced. Though we all know the exceptions - the 55-year old Princess, the aging Heartthrob and the pot-bellied Jock living his memories. Usually, The Rebel and The Geek get it together in adulthood - although the current Anthrax story, sort of like Michael Douglas' "Falling Down," reveal a Geek who only went deeper into the dark corners of the mind.

None of the four students knew Jake in high school. Geeks aren't on anyone's radar screen, but as a result of this experience and now traveling the country for screenings, they've become friends, though Jake, slumped in his director's chair, has dropped out of school, trying to figure things out.

My son, who saw the film with me, didn't like the animation sequences - he saw them as an overly aggressive attempt by the film-maker to "portray" some of the inner thoughts of the Princess and the Geek. Megan's imagination of Notre Dame - a beautiful place where everyone holds hands. Jake, always the gamer, is a heroic knight on his way to save the fair damsel.

As for me, I was satisfied, though the story would have been fine without it - yet I agree with my son on one piece - Jake battled a serious complexion issue, and in the animation portion, where he's the hero, his skin problem is included. I would have thought that in his ideal world of prowess and victory, the complexion would be clear. Oh well.... During the course of the film, Jake's complexion improved (I was told by a reliable source - how about that? - that the director gave Jake a lot of help to clear it up) - though this leads to a slight editing problem - Jake's complexion varies from scene to scene.

If anyone wants an insight into teen life today, this is it, along with the stresses and love of being a parent. Though the school staff plays a small role, they're portrayed honestly - without either demonizing or lionizing them.

Don't bother watching some over-rated TV drama, go see American Teen ... see it several times.

Hats off to the film-makers, but especially to Paramount Vantage for seeing this work at Sundance and making it available. This kind of work deserves serious support.

And with the exception of Jake, it looks like everyone is on their way. Colin is playing basketball on scholarship, Megan is pre-med at Notre Dame (the school of her dreams), Mitch is pre-med also and Hannah's at SUNY studying film. Life has a way of working out.

There Will Be Blood

"I can't stand to see anyone else succeed."

An American Tragedy written in oil and blood.

Brilliant acting ... chilling story ... based upon Upton Sinclair's ("Oil" - 1927) view of capitalism run amuck, without a soul and losing its mind in a heedless rush for profits at any cost, success at any price, personal, moral or otherwise ... it's not so much the dollar as it is the chase; not so much the success as it is the failure, the humiliation, of the competition.

Daniel Day-Lewis is incredible in his portrayal of "the oilman." At first, my sensibilities were in sympathy with him - just another hard working, hard striving man, widowed when his wife dies in childbirth, now caring for his infant son.

But with his success goes his degradation and the loss of whatever sympathy I might have had. A brilliant portrayal of man bent on success at any price, slowly revealing an utterly corrupt and contemptible spirit. What seemed to be even at the start wasn't necessarily so - in the end, he disowns his "son" whom he calls a "basket bastard" - an orphan he picked up to make himself appear as a family man, hence easier to acquire oil rights from from folks otherwise inclined to be suspicious.

Paul Dano, the young preacher, a twisted soul, greedy in his own right, on his own special road to perdition.

Both men, each intent on humiliating the other, willing to sell their souls to one another to further their own interests - the young preacher for his church and the oilman for pipeline rights.

The countryside is barren, and so are the souls of those who live therein - religious or not.

Along with capitalism, Sinclair tackles religion - various versions of the same fundamentalist claptrap - too often cruel and manipulative, and having been a pastor for forty years, I know the stories well.

Like a prophet of old, Sinclair shines a bright light on religion to reveal its shoddy makeup barely concealing a venal heart.

The movie begins without speech ... in a lonely place, an isolated silver mine, and Mr. Plainview chiseling away at the rock, nearly losing his life in a mine shaft fall, walking with a limp for the rest of his days - sort of like the biblical Jacob.

The movie ends in a lonely, isolated, place: a two-lane bowling alley in Mr. Plainview's California mansion, with Mr. Plainview striving to make it, having taken life all along the way - literally and emotionally - and now in a final horrific scene, he humiliates and destroys his "competition."

With blood on his hands, he ends the film with, "I'm done."

And so he is.

He can neither rise any higher nor sink any lower!

In all respects, a powerful film, superb script, awesome music ... the drama of America's quest for oil, the powerful and the weak - all put together in an epic film.

Hats off to Paramount Vantage and Miramax Films for this extraordinary film, a tour de force of capitalism's dark side.