Away We Go
Dir: Sam Mendes
2009
*****
No, I didn't like American Beauty or Road to Perdition. Mainly because American Beauty was totally over-hyped, I couldn't relate to any of the characters and I believe it only did well because there wasn't much competition in the cinemas at the time. I didn't like Road to Perdition because it was a poor adaptation of one of my favourite comics and I'm a purist. I quite like everything else Sam Mendes has done though (apart from breaking poor Kate Winslet's heart that is). Away We Go is his best so far. I loved the relationship between Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph), I love the way they ask themselves at the age of 34 "Are we F**k ups?". Been there! Both are trying to find themselves in amongst their home, family and friends and each other which will sound pathetic to anyone of a younger age but just you wait, one day you will realise that a lot of your friends are actually selfish idiots with right-wing tendencies and you wont see it coming (that's my story anyway). Families can be equally rubbish when you least expect. The characters in Away we Go are exaggerated but then we all know that one couple that you wouldn't believe if you were told about by someone else. What I really liked is that they worked out everything together, there was none of the cliched 'Break up, have sex with someone else, apologies, declare undying love after all, forgive, get married instantly, etc etc' nonsense. It's a real love story, not the usual Hollywood rubbish that is fantastical and usually pretty far from real life. I'm not saying Away we Go is a work of realism but it has all the charm and beauty that a loving relationship can have and it's nice to see that in film for a change. I loved it.