Not so revolutionary

The latest film I watched was Revolutionary Road, the second of the Kate Winslet films which came out almost back to back, but this time she was paired with her Titanic co-star Leo DiCaprio.
In this they play husband and wife living in the suburbs with two children.  He works in a job he doesn't like, for a firm that his father spent years working for, while she stays at home failing to become an actress.  The life they envisaged for themselves several years earlier hasn't quite materialised.
One day it get's too much for Winslet's character and she reminds her husband of his previous dream of moving to Paris and after a short while he thinks its a great idea and they start to plan it. Except he's suddenly been offered a promotion and she gets pregnant and he calls the whole thing off.

To me it was just another 'unhappy couple' film.  I prefer films without some sort of moral, but on the other hand these films just feel somewhat pointless. I'm never quite sure whether to feel pity for the characters or nauseated by their whining.  It would be impossible to set the film in the present day, since the pressure on people staying together in a marriage, happy or otherwise, isn't the same, and in some ways this is one of the films greatest pitfalls.  A truly good film and story should be able to take place whether it is the present day or medieval times.
As a plus, the acting is very good and some of the dialogue can be quite engrossing.  The characters, for all their annoying traits, are somewhat believable, and there is a certain irony in the only person who actually makes sense being someone who is considered mentally ill.
There are a few unanswered questions in terms of DiCaprio's relationship with the father he talks about, along with how they got to first meeting to the situation they are now in.  There is never any evidence that there wasn't any alternative to it, but if life teaches you anything there are always alternatives.  The ending also is somewhat predictable and depressing, and really makes you wonder what the film was trying to say, if anything at all.
My rating is (raised mainly for the quality acting) is six and a half out of ten.

The Reader

I read The Reader a couple of years ago when the film came out, but only recently received the film itself to watch.  Pleasingly, it is faithful to the book with key elements of the plot, and with actors like Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes it is also a pleasure to watch.  It is such a shame that they only have one small scene together.

The story itself concerns a young German boy just after the war, who through a bout of fever meets an older German woman with whom he has an affair.  When she suddenly vanishes he is distraught.  However he sees her again several years later, but in a courtroom where he discovers that she is a former SS guard.

I won’t give any more of the plot away if you have not read or seen it, since it is worth enjoying the story as it’s meant to be enjoyed.  Not that it is necessarily enjoyable, it is actually quite a sad story, and one that stays in the mind for several hours afterwards.  The sign, I think, of a good story.

The themes within the story are also quite powerful, too powerful for me to really discuss here in any way that would do them justice.  I think you should see the film for yourself and make your own conclusions, or even better, read the book.

As for the film it was excellent, with only two small points of contention in that there was more sex than strictly necessary to the plot, and the film itself was slightly over long.  All in all 8 out of 10.