Rating of
3/4
Fascinating Suburban Drama
Franz Patrick - wrote on 07/24/08
I love films about suburbia because it's mostly funny to see so many depressed people in one area. Although this one had its comical moments, there were a lot of serious and fascinating character studies. It started off really well because of the filmmakers' astute way of using narration. Such a technique allowed me to understand and relate to the characters that much faster, and therefore understand their choices later on. I thought Kate Winslet was perfect as mother that is unhappy about her marriage so she decided to look for excitement. I completely believed Patrick Wilson as a stay-at-home dad with clipped wings. And I wanted to know more about Jennifer Connelly who played a working mother who has no idea about what's really hapenning at home. Somehow, everything felt right even though the things that were happening with these characters' lives were so wrong. I admired the tone of the film because I felt like I really was in suburbia. For a film that is more than two hours long, it felt a lot shorter because I was actually interested and wanted to know more about what was going on. I thought this film was honest and somewhat unsettling at the same time, so it was interesting to see events and characters unfold.
