Copyright 2008, DreamWorks SKG and The Weinstein CompanyFive nominations for 25 films. Getting one nomination for every five movies you're in is not a bad batting average in Hollywood; ironically enough, knowing that Kate Winslet has only been nominated five times is a bit shocking. Hasn't she gotten more noms yet?
Well, she's probably going to have two more under her belt in a few weeks' time. Like Cate Blanchett last year, Ms. Winslet is in two top-line movies at the end of the year, The Reader and Revolutionary Road. This review will deal with both films, in that order. Enjoy.
The Reader
Actors like challenges. Good actors do, at least. Heath Ledger chooses to play a gay American cowboy, and then portrays a scarred, insane criminal. Sean Penn plays an autistic man, a repentant murderer on Death Row, and an openly gay political candidate. Cate Blanchett plays Katherine Hepburn and Bob Dylan (not in the same movie, but wouldn't that be even more interesting?). It's fair to say, though, that Kate Winslet's beaten them all in The Reader. In the film, she plays an ex-SS guard at Auschwitz. That, in itself, is a challenge, but even more challenging is that her character is meant to be sympathetic. Sympathetic Nazis at Christmastime....how can you lose?
Based on the novel by Bernhard Schlink, The Reader is about crucial moments in the life of Michael Berg, played by David Kross as a young man and Ralph Fiennes as an adult. Michael, living in West Germany in 1958, falls ill on a trolley and is helped home by Hanna Schmitz (Winslet), a coin collector on the trolley. After recovering from scarlet fever, Michael visits Hanna at her apartment to thank her for helping him. One thing leads to another and Michael ends up becoming attracted to the older woman; the wrinkle here is that the feeling is mutual. Michael and Hanna begin an illicit relationship over the summer, mostly involving bathing, lovemaking, and Michael reading books to Hanna. The summer ends, and Hanna, having received a promotion at her job, leaves her apartment, abandoning her young lover.
Eight years later, Michael's a law student attending the trial of six female SS guards being brought to trial for their actions, which lead to the murder of 300 Jews in a church outside Auschwitz. To Michael's shock, one of the accused is Hanna. Even more devastating is Michael's realization of something Hanna's kept secret even to him; this secret could help Hanna be acquitted. Should Michael help his lover, even if she's an ex-Nazi?
Ethical conundrums are obviously the driving force behind this film, although director Stephen Daldry and screenwriter David Hare (both of whom worked on the 2002 film The Hours) are equally intrigued in the passage of time, and how Michael's one summer with an older woman emotionally scars him for his life. Fiennes is solid and understated here, but his older Michael is more interested in suppressing emotions of the past. Whatever Kross emotes is not equaled in Fiennes' performance, not necessarily a bad thing.
A few months back, there was some controversy about The Reader, in that The Weinstein Company (the film's distributor) wanted the movie to be ready for the 2008 Oscar season, while original producer Scott Rudin wanted Daldry to work on making his vision complete for as long as he needed to. The Weinsteins overruled, got their way, and Rudin took his name off the project. This is, fortunately, not a film that feels rushed; unfortunately, it's not a film that feels truly complete. Much of Hanna's character feels a bit empty, even if that's due to Michael's perception of her. Hanna, while not always a kind-hearted person, also doesn't seem to be capable of mass murder (or allowing it to happen); although Winslet's performance here is the best thing, the characterization is incomplete. If the emptiness was always intentional, it's a mistake. We are meant to have some emotional catharsis at this film's climax, a scene between Fiennes and Lena Olin as a Holocaust survivor, and yet nothing jumps off the screen there.
Daldry's direction here is, again, solid, as is most of the movie, but without something to truly grab the viewer, to hold them, what we are left with is a film whose book may be more interesting and worth experiencing than the adaptation.
Two and a half stars out of four
Revolutionary Road
Revolutionary Road is the funniest film of the year! You'll split your sides in laughter! Leo and Kate have never been more hilarious! No, you haven't walked into the Twilight Zone, but if you're like me and walked into a certain Phoenix-area theatre, you would have been surprised to hear gales of laughter as Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, in their first film since Titanic, fight and yell viciously, cutting each other down to a shell of themselves.
No, this is not a funny film, and if you laugh, well....how uncomfortable are you? That's what Sam Mendes' latest film is, uncomfortable, as it should be. Based on the classic 1961 novel by Richard Yates, the story focuses on Frank and April Wheeler, a beautiful married couple with two kids, a nice house in the suburbs, and the rest of the 1950s cliche. The difference is that Frank and April are both incredibly unhappy in their lives, in their relationships, and in themselves. Their decision to move to Paris, leave suburbia behind, and reinvent themselves is what sends their relationship to the slaughterhouse, as complications arise and tempers flare.
It's been 11 years since Leo and Kate were onscreen together, and even then, Winslet was the acting victor. Nothing has changed and everything has. DiCaprio in 1997 was boyish, young, and brash, but not a great actor. Today, DiCaprio is boyish and young-looking (though he's a year older than his female counterpart, he doesn't look it), but has evolved into a very good actor. Unfortunately, Kate Winslet is a great actress, and in whatever acting battles take place in Revolutionary Road, she wins hands-down. Granted, the screenplay by Justin Haythe does DiCaprio no favors. Though he's in about as much as Winslet, DiCaprio's Frank is a cipher of a character. Much is made about the fact that once Frank and April move to Paris, he'll figure out what he wants to do with himself. Frank has already turned 30, but has no idea what he wants to do with himself, and is unwilling to admit that he'll never find the answer. That's some type of characterization, but it's only hinted at in the performance.
April, on the other hand, a failed actress, is a severely depressed woman who wants very much to move away, so much so that she will do horrible things to her husband and herself to get it. Whatever flaws are in the film are forgotten when she's onscreen, searing and emotional. Though Winslet will likely end up with two Oscar nominations, this is the role she should win for.
The other great performance in the film, the one that garners laughter in the theater (only once is it funny), is from Michael Shannon, the slightly goggle-eyed actor from Bug. He plays John, the manic-depressive son of Helen (Kathy Bates, another Titanic survivor), the realtor who sold Frank and April their house. John, recently released from a psychiatric ward, is an ex-mathematics professor who is the only truth-teller in the film. Shannon's in 10 minutes of the film, but his cruel and surprising performance is so memorable that you desperately want him to come back.
Whether or not Leonardo DiCaprio is good in this film (and he is, but only that), it's impressive to see how much he wants to be better at what he's doing. Most actors couldn't pull off the many arguments in the film, and though he's not fully successful, that he wants to try and doesn't do that badly is worth some applause. In fact, the only truly disappointing part of this film is Sam Mendes' direction. Like the characters' inner lives, the look and feel of this film is purposely bland. Still, Mendes was able to spice up the look of his debut, American Beauty; he chooses to keep his style as far away from this film as possible, despite having Roger Deakins as his cinematographer. The movie looks fine, though it could be argued that the AMC TV show Mad Men is not only emulating the look but content of Revolutionary Road week in and week out.
See Revolutionary Road for Kate Winslet and Michael Shannon. But, expect to feel uncomfortable and keep your laughter to yourself.
Three and a half stars out of four
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