The End of the Road- Cinema of the suburbs

“I don't want to live in a world without love or grief or beauty, I'd rather die.” - Becky in “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956)

As World War II gave way to the Baby Boom and the housing experiment of Levittown gave birth to the suburbs, a whole new way of American life was created. The picturesque world of the perfect family in tidy homes was of course an ideal not quite the reality and post-war literature by authors like John Cheever were quick to point that out. Hitchcock’s “Shadow of a Doubt” showed us that well-mannered mass murderers lurked among us in small town, Norman Rockwell America even before the war had finished and the suburbs were created.

Ah the burbs! Mass produced homes with conformity hanging in the air like the smell of fresh cut grass. Cautionary suburban stories continue to sprout like home gardens usually featuring the repressed individual trying to break out of the rigid norms of their family or community. If films are the dreams of a society, the suburban angst film certainly show how the American Dream can sometimes mask a nightmare. The stereotypes are obvious: strong: driven, domineering wives, obsessed with homemaking, absent or drunken husbands usually unhappy in their work, raising spoiled, superficial children against a backdrop of mid-brow culture, marital friction, adultery, divorce, drug abuse, and occasional mental illness. This has been great fodder for inspired scripts warning of the blandness of an increasingly homogenized American culture. The metaphoric suburbs are an ideal setting for tales that warn that the lives of those in those nicely manicured homes are somehow less authentic than their urban and rural counterparts. The dysfunction, boredom and banality of life in these communities are an easy target and almost a clichéd genre. Yet when done correctly they can continue to make us fear the disengagement that becomes more prevalent with each passing year and new technology.

The brilliant original “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” had average small town folks transforming into unfeeling zombies right there in fifties perfect ‘Santa Mira’. “The Graduate” perfectly anticipated the youth movement of the sixties that rejected the homogenous suburban ‘successes’ of the postwar generation. (“I Love you, Alice B Tolklas!” then took it to the stoned extreme) By the seventies films like “The Stepford Wives”,“Over the Edge” (Matt Dillon’s film debut) and “Halloween” continued to warn that safety was just an illusion at the heart of the suburban myth. The conservative eighties delivered their punches with gently rebellious films such as “Ordinary People”, "A Nightmare on Elm Street", "Blue Velvet", “Desperately Seeking Susan”, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", "The Burbs, "Heathers" and even “The Breakfast Club”. The nineties exploded with further examinations including: "Clerks", “Safe”, “Dazed and Confused”,” Welcome to the Dollhouse”, “Suburbia”, “Pleasantville” and Mendes' own “American Beauty”. The past decade has continued the trend with: “Donnie Darko”, “Ghost World”, "Little Children", ‘Little Miss Sunshine” and "Towelhead" among others.

So flashback to the postwar fifties and first-time novelist Richard Yates who cast his nervous eye on the emerging lifestyle as he saw it unfolding when he wrote “Revolutionary Road” first published in 1961. The title itself spoke as a warning since there was nothing revolutionary about suburban life; in fact it seemed to be the very death of the adventurous life and individualism that America was famous for. So although we’ve all seen many of the films I’ve noted, not to mention a slew of Lifetime movies set in these quiet neighborhoods, “Revolutionary Road” still feels as fresh and pertinent as when it was first written since it was still original and of its’ time.In fact the conformity of the fifties looks even more stifling as we look back on it a half century later.

As I’ve said so many films do present this setting as a cliché, so I was half expecting not to like this film which I thought might be a bunch of overwrought Oscar- bait. Happily I was wrong. Being a real work of literature rather than a 50’s soap opera script, “Revolutionary Road” was a novel aspiring to deeper truths. Sam Mendes and his whole creative team have taken this to heart by delivering a film not really about the suburbs but about relationships and the compromises they create. We first meet the Wheelers as they meet at a party in Greenwich Village where fifties hipsters are seen toking weed. Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) seems to be buying into the Bohemian vibe by stating that he could care less about his job. April (Kate Winslet) is an aspiring actress and they immediately are attracted to each other. When we see them next she is in a shoddy community theater production of “Petrified Forest” and their argument in the car on the way home has her dreams dying before we have reached the opening credits. By the time they move to their suburban home on Revolutionary Road, in a Connecticut suburb of New York City, they have two children and Frank is working in the marketing department of a business machine company in the city, the same firm his father worked at. Their ideal dreams of their youth have not yet been packed away but they truly are both becoming just another suburban couple and they are neither happy nor communicating well.

As is obvious by now, I really identify with this genre being a suburban boy myself. My first job had me commuting into New York City (via Port Authority rather than Grand Central station as Frank does) and seeing those fifties businessmen in their matching suits and fedoras walking the walk stirred a feeling in me much like when we nod our head in recognition of George Romero’s zombies. No one wants to be predictable or conformist, but family life does mean making this sacrifice. Or does it? That is the main point of this film and it is wonderfully played.

Leo and Kate act their asses off and her Oscar for this was well earned. The supporting cast is also great; David Harbour and Kathryn Hahn are sympathetic and not caricatures as their less than supportive, bland suburban friends; Kathy Bates brings life to the role of Mrs. Givings, (how great is that name?) the annoying nosey neighbor, plus a great turn by Michael Shannon as her disturbed son who has had the strong impulse control of the place fried out of him by shock therapy treatment and therefore acts as the chorus of the Wheeler’s conscience. Sam Mendes nicely captures the claustrophobia and emotion of the piece and seeing April framed behind a picture window like a caged bird is tragic. I feel this should have beaten out ‘Slumdog’ for best film but perhaps we are still not ready to look inside our nice houses (or our souls) just quite yet. Turning a deaf ear is easier, much like how Mrs. Givings husband quietly turns off his hearing aid during her conformist rants.

Failed plots- the law of average

I had a friend tell me I was too tough on films in this blog. My response is that isn’t being critical the whole point here? I don’t think I am too critical; I just love good films and I’m here to save you time. When some fail or worse yet come out average, I have the time to sit through them and spare you. Obviously it’s only my opinion and there are thousands of other blogs and sources for you to look at if you disagree. Jessi also counters me sometimes, but she has her fingers in many creative pies and is currently saving our world and so she lets me ramble here. I always say it is somehow sadder for me when a film is just average. The ones that fail outright are at least adventurous and committed to a vision. The vast majority of films are just average (3 shakers) and so they are usually the result of compromise, playing it safe, or just telling a story that we’ve seen many times before without much originality. So in this post I’ll look at three such average Joes: a romcom, a crime story and a war flick.

Expecting nothing but a cute pic I saw “He’s Just Not That into You” with a female friend when it was still in theaters. The place was just packed with the females that were its target audience. I’m kind of glad my friend was with me because where I saw harmless fluff she was outraged by both the female characters onscreen and their live counterparts in our theater. The pic has interwoven stories featuring thirty-somethings coming to terms with their relationship status. Like most Hollywood films they all have perfect jobs, great clothes, beautiful homes and wonderful friends (hey just like the show “Friends” which also had Jennifer Anniston) but all they do is whine about their unhappy lives. Poor them!

The main character, Gigi (Ginnifer Goodwin) has been told since childhood that men act like jerks if they like you and she therefore continues to throw herself at douche yuppies with apropos names like Conor (Kevin Connolly). When the studly bar manager Alex (Justin Long of the Mac commercials) pities her and begins offering her detailed advice on male behavior, my friend and I wondered what was ridiculously obvious: “Gee I wonder if these two will fall in love?”

Meanwhile, Connor still has the hots for his girlfriend Anna (Scarlett Johansson) who is on the hunt for married man Ben (Bradley Cooper) whose friend Neil (Ben Affleck) has been dating Beth (Anniston) for seven years but she seems only now to be peer pressured to get married against his wishes. Ben’s wife Janine (Jennifer Connelly) is back at their townhouse doing extensive renovations. Probably a heavy-handed metaphor for all the wanna-be, nesting females here. You get the picture? As my friend pointed out all the females here cared about was the opposite sex, they seemed more like 16-year-olds than grown women. Goodwin’s character was an idiot and Johansson seemed sleepy. So how can a film for and about women be so misogynistic? Obviously the writers were just not that into you!

The crime film that averages out is one I thought might have some real grit since it was written and directed by a true life criminal. In “What Doesn’t Kill You” Brian Goodman plays a local Mafioso boss and wrote the screenplay based on his memories of life in the tough streets of south Boston. Brian (Mark Ruffalo) and Paulie (Ethan Hawke) are friends since childhood and do what they have to in order to survive. Petty crimes aren’t cutting it anymore and Brian needs to provide for his family, so tensions develop as the boys want to break out from under their boss's thumb. Brian then develops a (symptom free) coke habit but here the believability starts to strain. As Paulie plans for that one “big heist” that they need to retire both the film and his acting seems to become one big cliché. This film shot in stark winter is lean and mean and Ruffalo almost sells it, but for me it went nowhere, much like the lives of those it portrays.

Finally we have “Valkyrie” which has Tom Cruise playing beloved World War II German hero Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. Do I have to go on here? Tom Cruise is a crazy dude and watching him become more erratic and fanatically Scientologist has been kind of a sad thing. When an actor so obviously manic speaks against psychotherapy it’s just bizarre. When he acts mad in his films he just seems like a little boy stomping his foot for his blankie. Like Richard Gere I think he is best when he plays against type as the heavy. The supporting cast is strong although they all speak in different accents (Kenneth Brannaugh, Terrence Stamp, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkerson) which I know shouldn’t matter but between the star casting and the accents we already have more of a stagey less believable feel. Then there is the structure; it is played out in strict chronological order and played seemingly for suspense. This is odd since we obviously know Hitler was not assassinated and therefore it’s tough to get to that tension. I’ve seen many more effective films like this that would frame the film as the main characters are about to be executed and work it in flashbacks. The structure and lead can’t take away from the nice location shooting though; many scenes were shot in their actual locations. I can imagine an older Germans’ blood would run cold as they past a an old Nazi building again being filmed draped in Swastikas so perhaps this whole film was just a bad idea about a good idea.

A Salty Spring Rain

I’ve done more viewing than writing and most certainly don’t deserve their own posts so let’s click off some recent Tim- takes on these (mostly) recent releases:

“Reign over Me”- Yuck, the immense tragedy of 9/11 deserves a better exploration of grief than Adam Sandler in a Dylan haircut glumly tooling through an empty city on a motorized scooter. Contrived characters including an embarrassingly obvious love interest don’t stop Don Cheadle from trying. – Three Shakers

“Elegy” - Ben Kingsley is too dull and Penelope Cruz too old for the part in this boringly understated take on Phillip Roth’s tale of a man facing his mortality via a fling with a young student. – Three Shakers

Stranded: I've Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains” – This oft told tale of the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes forcing them into cannibalism is an amazing one. For the first time we hear their first person accounts. Unfortunately it goes on way too long and it’s hard to be inspired if you end up bored. I think this would have been a more moving film if the editors would have eaten a half an hour of this. – Three Shakers

“Cadillac Records” (Three Shakers) and “Notorious” (Two Shakers) - Bio-pics like these belong on cable. It is obvious in both that scenes are just being fabricated and the actors playing real recognizable celebs are just playing dress-up. Having the Puff daddy character in “Notorious” lecture the Christopher Wallace character on the evils of drugs is particularly egregious since Diddy was behind this film. In “Cadillac Records” Adrien Brody just didn’t seem to nail his character and the whole subject of his exploitation of his clients was too easily glossed over.

“Alexandra” – I really wanted to hate this film. Plotless and contrived (a grandmother visits her grandson in a war camp) but it also seemed to speak in a universal language on the horror of war without even showing a battle. It expresses a simple humanity. Thanks for stopping by Grandma! – Four shakers

“Last Chance Harvey” Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman completely outshine the lame material. These characters deserve a better chance than this! - Three Shakers

“Ricky Gervais: Out of England: The Stand-Up Special”- I love Ricky G and both the original “The Office” and “Extras’ were genius. But here he goes off on children with cancer, visualizes the start of the AIDs virus and attacks the obese all between swigs of Fosters. Without an obvious character to hide behind these riffs come off as cheap shots. He seems more like a jerk in a bar than a successful comedian. I lost a brother to AIDs so a bit with him laughing himself silly while reading an obvious gag AIDs prevention pamphlet for ten minutes was a little over the top for me. – Two Shakers

“War, Inc.” – Poor John and Joan Cusack who mug their way through a film that tries to hard to satire everything and ends up just a noisy mess. As in ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’ John again plays an assassin, this time dealing with a familiar looking Mideast war for profit and a Brittany Spears knock-off. It wants to be “Dr. Strangelove” but instead it’s another “Southland Tales”. Plus I saw the twist coming a mile away. – Two Shakers

“Role Models” – I used to work with gamers so I really enjoyed the second half of this film set at a live action role playing game. Sean William Scott and Paul Rudd worked great together as well as with their younger costars. The man playing the King is also wonderfully obnoxious. Good times! – Four shakers

“Of Time and the City” –. Pretentious and self-absorbed filmmaker Terence Davies rhapsodizes all bout his early gay feelings and his hatred of the church, the Queen and the Beatles against pretty evocative and eerie footage (mostly old stock footage). This “visual poem” dedicated to Liverpool would have been more effective with a little less bombastic poetry recitation and venom. I would not like to have tea with this chap. – Two shakers

So that’s five average flicks, four below average and two above average recommendations - and that’s how the corn gets salted for now! Happy viewing people!

Storm Warning

It is a stormy port city ands we meet an upscale yuppie couple. Michele is an entrepreneur workaholic whose maritime firm is coming to grips with a new aggressive partner. His wife Elsa is completing her art history doctorate while working to restore a newly found fresco in an ancient building. Their daughter Alice is a twenty-something, running a healthy alternative restaurant with friends which Michele obviously disapproves of- as well as her choice of a boyfriend. The couple is planning a post-graduation trip to Cambodia to celebrate Elsa’s achievement.

With the exception of the fresco this could be many couples that I’ve met in Seattle but this film is set in Genoa Italy. Our couple boats and eats at fine restaurants ands are surrounded by equally successful friends. As the film opens we are at Elsa’s graduation party, the bubble of a perfect adult life soon bursts with a hangover and Elsa stepping on a broken lamp. It is the first in a series of problems that will try this couple, stripping them of their old life and forcing them to come to terms with an economy that robs them of their material achievements and strains all their relationships to a breaking point.

“Days and Clouds” presents great, dramatic realism in a film that tries to honestly tell the story of people dealing with our current economic crisis. With every figure in our news there are thousands of people making the difficult decisions that Michele and Elsa have to come to face. Their lifestyle has covered up their own lost passion in their marriage as effectively as time and paint covers up Elsa’s lost fresco. Attempting to restore it is agonizing and painstaking, but the film’s final shot reveals a quiet hope. In crises people find their character- I think we’ll be seeing more films like this as our recession crawls on. Quiet films of personal crises are more inspiring than super heroes after all.

Talking Back to Tim

We agree...and disagree. He says tomato, I say, tomahto. It's perfect, 'ain't it? Two of Tim's recent reviews ( "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and "Happy Go Lucky") are just ripe for a toss-up of opinions.

I selected "play" on the DVD player just the other night for "The Day the Earth Stood Still." Approaching it with the expected angst of watching yet another "why did the remake this?!" film, I was even more disappointed than anticipated. Kathy Bates as a hard-nosed government official? Ouch...painful to watch. (For a real kick-ass politician, see Cherry Jones as the President on "24"). There were, subsequently, so many inconceivable, bad moments that I've blocked out the film. I have to admit...I couldn't even watch the whole thing. Painful, indeed. I'd give one fewer star than Tim did to this completely unnecessary remake.

On my first viewing of "Happy Go Lucky," I nearly threw the remote at the screen. I'm a fairly chipper person, but Sally Hawkins' "Poppy" made me want to grind my teeth down to smooth, polished ivory stubs. Is there something...deficient...with someone who remains cheerful in virtually all circumstances? True, she wasn't facing war or terminal illness. Rather, she merely encountered everyday annoyances that would drive the rest of us into a flurry of expletives. Instead, she persists with a loving silliness against a cranky bookstore owner, for example. The degree to which she perseveres with her downright scary driving instructor (a chilling performance from Eddie Marsan) is almost difficult to watch. And is it courage or foolishness that compels her to approach a boisterous homeless man in a desolate setting?

In between these tests of spirit, there are the everyday situations--drinks with friends, dating, a family get together-- into which she weaves an optimism and glee that no doubt draws her friends and family closer to her.

It wasn't until my second viewing of the film that I found the deeper meaning that brilliant director Mike Leigh had no doubt intended (a character study of optimism and saintly goodness). Still, it's hard to watch. Like being the only one at a party who isn't drinking...and just not seeing what's so funny, after all.

Doubt, Debt, Dud

A nun is taken out by a tree limb and copes with oncoming blindness, a pigeon flies in church, rustling leaves abound, light bulbs pop and windows that were closed always seem to open during storms. The encroaching nature symbols come hard and heavy in John Patrick Shanley’s “Doubt” a film that my co-blogger Jessi screened last December. Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) comments ‘the winds are changing’ and we know she is right. Set in 1962, the turbulent sixties were about to erupt and Vietnam was to be a war that divided the land. In the Catholic Church, Vatican II would ease the formalities and reform the mass to a more user friendly format. The hermetically sealed world of Sister Aloysius and her pious sisters was coming to an end and she is the General Custer of the old guard directing her wrath at the friendly new priest, Father Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) whose kindness must surely mask some ghastly secrets. I unfortunately didn’t see the original play but it looked like a scaled down “The Crucible” with “Our Town” staging, winning a Pulitzer Prize and several Tonys. This attracted the film adaptations' dream cast and made it prime Oscar bait, though it was closed out of all 5 awards. Being a 12 year Catholic school survivor I had no experience with evil old nuns but my older siblings did. So I am personally grateful that clergy like cool Father Flynn persevered. This film could have been overly pretentious and it is a bit stagy but it's also a great old fashioned movie. Viola Davis and Amy Adams provide strong support but it’s all about the battle of the two leads. As Jessi noted, seeing two of the greatest film stars of our time turn in strong performances is a blessing. Student vs. student, nuns vs. priests, conservative vs. liberal, authority vs. freedom, nature vs. man - Shanley seems to have distilled all dramatic conflict into the films' lean framework. Father Flynn’s great homilies on doubt and gossip also reminded me of those innocent times when good priests inspired me before puberty hit.

"I.O.U.S.A" is like “An Inconvenient Truth” in that it brings basically a fleshed out PowerPoint presentation with grave news to life. Regardless of your political leanings we must come to realize that debts do have to be paid and this film does a good job in describing and breaking down the complex jargon that is our economy. Citizens have sleepwalked as our economy has been sold out to foreign investors and now cry when billionaires are asked to pay their share of taxes- this is what will bring the country down without a shot being fired. To see the heavy hitters in banking and commerce agree on the problem is at least hopeful and former US Comptroller David Walker is a man on a mission: to get the word out on the impending problems of long-term unresolved debt. After last years economic crash this DVD’s release has pretty good timing. Like the sober lessons of oil production peaking in “The End of Suburbia”, this is another essential film tackling a key social problem which is a classic documentary tradition. These films aren’t the most fun to watch but the information they provide is critical.

Speaking of lessons, the original “The Day the Earth Stood Still” warned humanity to shape up and behave. The remake has the aliens now on an extermination mission with a lot of flashy special effects. (Including the destruction of Giants stadium in NJ which means my old hometown would have been toast!) Keanu Reeves and Will Smith’s son Jaden along with Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates make some grocery money in this unnecessary remake. The new effects are kind of cool but still…Why don’t they remake bad films? Why would you remake a film that is an iconic classic? Why do I watch them? And does the earth have restless leg syndrome?

Happy, Sad, Spooky, Bland and Overdone- These ain’t no dwarfs

So many interesting flicks out this month! First in “Happy-Go-Lucky!” director Mike Leigh leaves behind the gritty realism that he obviously enjoys for a fresh look at life. Initially I was annoyed by the painfully chipper Poppy (Oscar nom Sally Hawkins), however over the course of this film you see her cheery optimism as a shield and a tactic. She will use her calculated optimism in an attempt to bring people out: a pretentious bookstore clerk, a troubled child who bullies, a homeless man. She directly challenges people’s anger and depression as a sport but also with much empathy. Poppy will enjoy her life regardless of the many reasons not to. In other films she would be a minor character, a friend in a group. By making her the hero Mike Leigh is giving us a life lesson in these trying times. The core of this film is the relationship between Poppy and her angry, bigoted driving instructor (a brilliant, intense Eddie Marsan). Seeing these two interact is so organic and interesting that it’s reminiscent of early Martin Scorsese. This is a great little film, a new “Amelie” for our times.


On the opposite side of the spectrum is a thoroughly depressing “Synecdoche, New York” This would have made a great short film, maybe 20 minutes or so. However it weighs in at over two hours and that’s just too much time to spend in a surreal dream world- thanks! Charlie Kaufman who wrote the great “Being John Malkovich” and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” makes his directorial debut and like his main character here, he’s too locked in his own creation. After a promising start where we see the breakup of Caden Cotard’s (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) marriage, the film gets progressively absurd. In this dream world, he spends 20 years making a play about his life that continues to intersect with his real life (or does it?) If nothing is real and the characters playing characters playing characters are neither really living nor really acting; why does anything matter? In “Brazil” Terry Gilliam gave us a truly brilliant parallel universe that had fun with its own dark view. Kaufman’s film is just confusing and morose. Stay out of Synecdoche, it’s a dark place.


I thought “Let the Right One In” was original and creepy. However, it seems a lot of people really liked this far more than I did. The setting of a cold, dark, depressing Swedish town is spot on. The little girl vampire concept is truly original. So although I am a bit sick of the vampire flick this still seemed much more interesting than the over-hyped “Twilight”. I think I may be a little jaded though since I am myself, a vampire.


The film “The Rocker” has Rainn Wilson breaking out of his Office cube to play an ex-hair band drummer who gets a second chance. The veteran, dream team supporting cast and the fun newcomers rally around our hero, but it’s too bad this film is way too predictable and not as funny as it should be. If it wasn’t so tame and eager to please this may have been something. As it stands, it’s as if “Spinal Tap” met a Lifetime TV movie and that doesn’t rock mate.

Finally we arrive back in Seattle. I was a lad working in a luxury hotel and condo-sitting during the WTO conference. So I had to work and live in the streets during the infamous 1999 riots. I was a spectator, but I felt correctly that it was a foreboding sign of things to come. I saw quirky, passionate and fun loving protestors as well as the masked and easily identifiable teenage ‘anarchists’ who were a very small minority. Then I watched the jack-booted riot police showing that they obviously didn’t care to tell the difference. It was bizarre to see rush hour commuters having to deal with a rowdy police force who were gassing downtown streets and pepper-spraying 16 year old girls. In short it was outrageous. Then you would switch on the TV and see the clueless reporting that repeatedly showed the smashing of a Starbucks window, and characterized all the protestors as vandals while totally ignoring the police brutality. Fractionized, angry protestors, biased media, corporate control issues, and strong arm police tactics- it was like a crash course in political awareness.


It is this defining incident that is the basis for Stuart Townsend’s “Battle in Seattle” a film that uses the “Crash” model of multiple storylines. The characters here feel more like designated representatives: the angry cop, the pregnant wife, the reporter who (laughably) grows a conscience, the lovebird protestors plus Andre 3000, the guy who sings the “Hey Ya” song. Like 2006s’ “Bobby” this film has its’ heart in the right place but just lays it on too thick. Although the recreations are nicely edited into the actual footage, the story is way too contrived and the actors struggle vainly in their one dimensional roles. A documentary on these events would be more impactful than this well-meaning but hollow film. The one thing that felt dead on was the portrayal of the mayor and police chief who are truly confused and dumbfounded by the events that they themselves were responsible for. It was a small justice to see them both lose their jobs.