The Last Movies I Saw

I caught a couple of films over the weekend, and they kind of lend themselves to a combined review. Each centers on a couple whose romantic impulses are brought under tremendous pressure by respective doubts about shared goals and motives.

The first of these two films is Tony Gilroy's Duplicity (Gilroy also wrote and directed one of my favorite films from last year, Michael Clayton), starring Julia Roberts and Clive Owens. I guess we could call it a caper comedy-thriller, wherein two experienced spies (Roberts' caharacter was in the CIA, Owens's in MI6) go to work in the private sector with the intention of ripping off their employers for $40 million. It plays out with multiple twists and turns and frankily, in the end is pretty forgettable. I like Owens a lot, and his charm carries the film; I'm not so big a fan of Roberts, and to me she's a little over her head in this film-- not bad really, just kind of one-dimensional and, aside from her obvious beauty, rather charmless. Maybe that's just me (and to be fair, I've seen her in other movies where I thought she did just fine).

The other film was Revolutionary Road, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Leonardo DeCaprio and Kate Winslet. In this story, two young dreamers (he of travel, she of acting) find themselves married with kids and living in the suburbs of 1950s America. Both know they are unhappy, but find themselves incapable of fully breaking the chains that have locked them into their middle class prison. The acting by both leads (and all of the supporting cast) is fantastic (I'm a little mystified why Winslet's performance here was overlooked in Academy Award nominations in deference to The Reader-- I found this to be a much more subtle and compelling performance). It's kind of a harrowing story in many ways, and ends on a downbeat note. But throughout it is thoughtful and realistic in a manner that goes beyond the period detail in costumes and sets (in fact, it makes me want to read the source novel by Richard Yates).

I guess that is ultimately the key difference between these two films. One is all flash and style, the other deals in substance. Duplicity was a reasonably entertaining way to spend a couple hours, but ultimately meaningless and forgettable; while Revolutionary Road provokes continued thought and consideration. I think the main reason for this, is that the latter actually deals with real people with whom I can identify, while the former is just a couple of movie stars playing roles that have virtually no connection to anything real. I think I was also somewhat put off by and underlying conceit of Duplicity, which is that corporations are smarter than people (whereas Revolutionary Road, with its "Organization Man" subtheme posits a more complex take on the corporate world). This may actually be true on some level, but I hardly think its something to celebrate, which is how it plays out in this film.