Sam Mendes’s Revolutionary Road is the story of two miserable married people – Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April (Kate Winslet) Wheeler – trapped in the emptiness and hopelessness of their 1950s suburban life, with no way out. They met at a party when they were young, Frank made her laugh; they fell in love; they married. Now Frank works at a meaningless job he loathes in Manhattan; April stays at home in their small Connecticut town to keep house and raise their two children.

Depressed and desperate, Frank becomes the typical misogynistic, self-righteous suburban husband. But watch DiCaprio’s performance carefully. There’s a detachment from this clichéd behaviour he performs. See how DiCaprio shows Frank uncertain about himself, confused with no recourse but to play the part of that loathsome husband who nearly beats his wife, and browbeats her into, as April says in all the previews, “feeling anything he wants her to feel”. He is unhappy, uncertain in his marriage, and terrified of searching for and finding a job he loves, for fear of failure. There is comfort in his misery. He has become his father – the one thing he never wanted to be – working the same terrible job at the same boring company, but it’s easier than trying to find his own identity. Continue reading “Revolutionary Road”

On Wednesday night, I got to attend the pre-screening of Confessions of a Shopaholic. Being a fan of the book series, I was very excited.

The movie was slightly different from the book, as I can remember. It took place in the U.S. rather than in the U.K., for instance. These differences did not result in disappointment at all, however.

Confessions of a Shopaholic tells the story of a bubbly but somewhat-ignorant girl named Rebecca Bloomwood. Her character is slightly reminiscient of Cher from the flick Clueless. She is very loveable, relateable, and has good intentions, but her clumsiness and bad decision-making get the best of her.

Rebecca has a terrible addiction to shopping, spawned from childhood, and is consequently several thousand dollars in debt. When she loses her boring job as a writer for a financial magazine, she applies for a position at a fashion magazine. Unfortunately, she doesn’t get it and accidentally ends up working for yet another financial magazine.

Rebecca is not quite as qualified for the job as her boss thinks she is, but makes her own way to success. Chaos ensues from the fact that she’s being chased by debt collectors yet doling out advice on how to manage money.

The slapstick humour, the dialogue, and the characters’ silly antics kept me (and the rest of the theatre) laughing throughout this movie. You might be tempted to do some shopping yourself after seeing it, though, so be warned. I highly recommend you to watch Confessions of a Shopaholic if you liked the book series and enjoy comedic chick flicks.

Click here to watch the trailer.