Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Away We Go
What do you get when acclaimed novelist husband and wife team Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida try their collective hand at a semi-autobiographical screenplay about impending parenthood? A very writerly, willfully quirky road-trip, plied with many a double entendre and clear thematic goals. It’s also rather funny, with The Office staple John Krasinski and Saturday Night Live player Maya Rudolph joined by fellow comedic talent including of an off the rails Allison Janney and Earth-Mother par excellence Maggie Gyllenhaal. Of course each character represents a certain parenting ‘style,’ while our hapless pair come to realise home is where the heart is. Awww.
Director Sam Mendes (American Beauty) continues his fascination with the American family, though this trip is mercifully less grueling than his journey down Revolutionary Road. Away We Go uncovers a few eloquent truths about partnership and parenthood, if you can wade through the quirk.
Published on Concrete Playground.
Australian release date: 10 December 2009
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4 comments:
Can't WAIT for this one!!
I'll be interested to hear what you make of the film. I wasn't thrilled by it, but definitely some beautifully written lines.
Ohh yeah I was really excited to see this but didn't love it. I read something about how they didn't question their relationship until everyone else projected their ideas of a good relationship/good parenting on them which I thought was pretty accurate and could've been more interesting to explore without using such crazy characters!
I think you're spot on Chanel. I guess that's what I meant by 'writerly' - the characterisations worked thematically, but resulted in these bizarre exaggerations when acted out. And then in comparison to all this craziness, I found Rudolph in particular to be quite flat.
That said, the film is a lot better than most 'indie' films out there - and I prefer an articulate, borderline overwritten film over dross dialogue any day!
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