Leo DiCaprio:h "Revolutionary Road" #book2movies

It's Leonardo DiCaprio's birthday which
means we're legally required to
watch a Leo movie. 

I went back to my archives to dig up this past Saturday Matinee and an eternal favorite. Here we go ... 

In honor of the Golden Globes airing tomorrow night, today’s Saturday Matinee stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, both former Golden Globe winners and both nominated again this year. Leonardo DiCaprio, last year’s Golden Globe winner for The Wolf of Wall Street is nominated for The Revenant, while Kate Winslet—a ten time Golden Globe nominee and two time winner—is nominated for best supporting actress in Steve Jobs.

So what movie shall we watch together today? Titanic which promises an ocean of tears, a memorable story of explosive young love, stopped from fading only by an event of epic proportions? 

Or Revolutionary Road which all too realistically portrays a couple imprisoned by their own and the world’s expectations of what life, marriage, and family are supped to look like in the 1950’s? A depressing, if beautifully rendered look, at young love as it devolves into negative space. 

“This film is so good it is devastating.” 

Roger Ebert

Yes, of course. We’re watching 2008’s Revolutionary Road based on the 1961 novel by Richard Yates. Both Winslet and DiCaprio were nominated for a Globe, with the extraordinary Winslet winning in her category. 

“If my work has a theme, I suspect it is a simple one: that most human beings are inescapably alone, and therein lies their tragedy.” 

Richard Yates, author, Revolutionary Road

Scripted by Justin Haythe, the film was directed by Winslet’s then husband, Sam Mendes, who was also nominated for his work here. Mendes, who gave us the last two Bond films, Skyfall and Spectre, won both a Golden Globe and an Oscar for American Beauty. Mendes is a man who clearly understands darkness and desperation. I imagine he relates to what the author Richard Yates said about the novel’s theme.

The set design and decoration earned the film an Oscar nomination along while the Foreign Press gave the costume design from Albert Wolsky the nom. Both beautiful replications of the 1950’s world they evoke. The acclaimed Roger Deakins was the cinematographer, the music is from the oft-nominated Thomas Newman. Basically a high calibre film on the talent front including a performance by Michael Shannon strong enough to earn him an Oscar nomination.

The late great Roger Ebert loved the film saying that Leo and Kate “ are so good, they stop being actors and become the people I grew up around.”  

Ready? Revolutionary Road is available to stream on iTunes, YouTube, Vudu, Google-Play, and Amazon.