Roadies

I lied when I said my next post would be about Bollywood--but don't worry, we'll get there eventually. Instead, I'd like to take a couple of minutes to talk about two very good "road" movies, by which I mean they have the word road in the title. They are both about marriages on the rocks during the 50s/60s and include affairs, heartache and children (but they only appear in about one scene each).

Arguably snubbed by the Academy Awards, the recent film "Revolutionary Road" starts with the meeting of Kate and Leo (sigh....who can ever forget their debut as a screen couple in Titanic! This movie is not like that). Once again, let me point out the inevitability of spoilers in all of my posts. From their, it jumps forward in time to the middle of a very unhappy marriage. About thirty minutes in there is a bright spot, but it pretty much only covers the downward slide of this 1950's/60's suburban couple.

The film entitled "Two for the Road", released in 1967 starred Albert Finney and Audrey Hepburn. I never would have thought to put them together but they are unusually effective in this film that tells the whole story of marriage that also has it's rocky points including affairs and arguments.

Each film is superbly acted and has a wonderful storyline. When I saw "Revolutionary Road" I was just blown away. I cannot understand how that film did not get any nominations, while Curious Case of Benjamin Button (in my opinion, kind of a snore fest and not as creative and original as it pretends to be) has something like 11 nominations. On a side note, Michael Shannon did get a nomination for best supporting actor I believe, and he was also wonderful. I highly recommend another film starring him, "Shotgun Stories", which also appeared at Ebertfest last year.

I was struck by the similarities in the two films when I viewed "Two for the Road" a few nights later. They both feature characters who seem for the most part not cut out for typical married life, shouldn't have children and are in general kind of selfish (not that this inhibits you from liking them, because for the most part you do). They try hard, fight, try to patch things up, fight more, and so on.

The thing that I loved about Two for the Road is that their selfishness is not all that defines these characters. In Revolutionary Road, they cannot get past their own desires and feelings of inadequacy and defeat. Most likely this is because they cannot escape the claustrophobic atmosphere that is developed so well in RR with the inclusion of the other characters who define their lives by their own shallow existences. In the end, Kate Winslet's character just doesn't care anymore about anything, least of all her husband.

In Two for the Road, the characters try to seem like they don't care, but with the films amazing editing tying the far past, recent past and present together, you can tell that they care about each other and ultimately want to save their marriage, no matter how they try to hurt each other.

Both are excellent films with similar plot lines. One ends happily, the other not so much. They are both slices of potential realities, so you can't say that one is more likely than the other, because each is so character driven that the stories changed based on the actions and emotions of the characters, and those who act around them and effect their lives.

(For a clear portrayal of possible reality, see Armageddon vs. Deep Impact. Clearly, Armageddon is further away from reality--seriously, they send Bruce Willis into space with one or two astronauts and some oil drills? Obviously Deep Impact is more realistic. Hehehehehe.)