I hate to admit that this time THE HUSBAND was right!!! This is a bad, ok correction 'not- so- good' movie and I say this only because I really like Sam Mendes. I like it that hes married to Kate Winslet, I like it that he made American Beauty and floored the Academy and audiences alike with it (not the usual thing to happen!!!), I like it that he made 'Revolutionary Road' before this , which despite being totally disturbing, dark and poignant is a great movie. I identify completely with this oft self defeating quest for a life less ordinary and hence I loved the 'Revolutionary Road' though I secretly dread meeting with an end like the protagonist in it. Now that I have meandered enough to want to reconsider my Blog's title to be 'Cribs and Ramblings', back to 'Away we Go'.
The reviews said everythinggood and in retrospect, most of the things about the reviews were wrong.
"John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph..amazing screen chemistry... most believable couple etc". Sorry, this is a couple whose romance and chemistry lies only in the Director's head coz it certainly doesn't touch the viewer's heart (din't touch mine)
Burt and Verona are a 30 -something couple expecting a child, from Connecticut, trying to decide where they would like to raise their child, and to answer that , take a road trip to different cities like Phoenix, Montreal,Miami, meeting freinds, family, acquaintances, who are all predictably weird. They are looking for a role model - the ideal place, the ideal family and the film does well to end on the note that there is really no such ideal paradigm- we all have to find what works for us, but the fun lies in the journey, not the destination.
This search for perfect place finally takes them back to Verona's family home, a place that houses her treasured memories but a place that she has found hard to revisit ever since her Father passed away in that house.
There is something inherently endearing about the protagonists in the sense that they might have been contented to be drifters in their twenties but are forced to revisit their world view when the stork comes visiting. Our socialization gives us very few options in terms of what the 'right' things to do at various stages in our life are- approaching 30means must have Baby, must settle down. Don't believe me? Ask any married woman whos thirty, married and has not procreated.
Nothing wrong with the premise- seems like a perfectly plausible quest, but here's the thing- the film tries too hard to appeal to the Bohemian sensibility , as if just being someone acceptive of the alternate (whatever that means) should make you laugh and cry with the clearly not so moving saga unfolding on screen.
Moments that work-
When Verona tells Burt that they might be 'fuck -ups' coz they are in their thirties, with no stable place to live in and have a cardboard window...a very real admission indeed and one beautifully portrays how even the uber cool have doubts about their unconventional lifestyle.
Maggie Gyllenhal - this is more than a moment. I would strongly recommend that you watch this movie for her and her alone. Maggie (loved her in Monalisa Smile, Dark Knight) is very much like our own Divya Dutta(Dilli 6, Veer Zaar, Welcome to Sajjanpur)- seldom given a whole movie, but her presence overshadows many a lead actress as she lights up the screen whenever she appears. She is the sole redeeming feature of 'Away we Go', delightfully cast as a post- modern Feminist , known to lesser mortals on campus as the 'Mom without the stroller' and as her character enlightens you , the main problem with America is that 'we are pushing our babies away from us' aka strolling them . Thats a gem. Her house is a 'yoga meets zen meets expensive vintage' with no pieces of furniture that has legs on it..it is indeed a 'continuum space' we are told. There is a hilarious piece with interesting trivia about the sea horse being a progressive liberated mammal because the male of the species actually carries the eggs and gives birth- the female deposits the eggs in the male receptacle. She tops this with her convincing portrayal of a privileged intellectual snob who s actually terrible condesceding towards the margnalised (the remarks about 'Verona's black oral traditions' and the concept of inequity explained by saying 'what do they , meaning Africans know? what do they have'? are absolute masterpieces). I have had the opportunity to have a good laugh at some similar so- called progressive, erudite snobs in India esp. in a certain industry!!!
There is a very touching moment in a pub with a golden couple that Burt and Verona meet in Montreal during their multi- city sojourn. It is the archetype 'golden couple'- in love, with a big family of loving adopted children from various origins with everything going for them , till the garb slips and Melanie Lynskey , who plays the cool woman doing a sexy pole dance thing while covering up her personal tragedy of five miscarriages asks Verona if shes had any trouble so far in her pregnancy . Verona says no and Munch (the character) turns away looking part disappointed and part upset with herself. This is what I like about Mendes- a very deft insight into how misery makes even the good ones among us jealous!!
Finally, though, I would have to admit that the movie disappoints on many counts.
The first and perhaps, the least of its flaws is that it doesnt do much for the road trip genre- the places they visit do not become characters, all the characters including the protagonists remain rather uni- dimensional till the end , and though everyone is grey, there's no harm in painting people in colours apart from black, white or grey, is there, Mr. Mendes?
I hate to say, its not only Verona's 'uterus that is tilted'- the whole vision of this movie is.
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