There's something about American suburbia that American cinema loves to hate, or at least give a dig in the ribs. The camera will pan in on the clean, airy spaciousness and obvious signs of prosperity, but the next minute, terrible things are always happening in the burbs: man-eating houses ("Amityville Horror"), serial murders ("Helter Skelter"), bloody divorce cases ("War of the Roses") teen suicides ("Virgin Suicides").
Perhaps Hollywood feels that it's OK for bad stuff to pop up in the city — it's only to be expected. But when tragedy occurs in an upscale neighborhood, it sort of gives a sage nod and says "ah." Violence amid the white porch furniture and manicured lawns always works, blood stains on the wall-to-wall carpeting never goes out of style. And if gratuitous bloodshed isn't in the works there's always gratuitous boredom, which is one of the defining themes of "Revolutionary Road," a brilliantly observed story of suburbian normality run quietly amuck.
Director Sam Mendes, best known for that other suburbia fable "American Beauty," focuses his lens once again on the tragedies that come with getting that big white house.