Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Away We Go
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As a celebrated and familiar outsider looking in, British director Sam Mendes continues to dig into the dysfunctional underside of Americana with his new film Away We Go. Three of his previous films, American Beauty (1999), Road to Perdition (2002) and Revolutionary Road (2008) depicted versions of the American Dream as a romantic ideal, only to send it rolling over on itself, crushing the dream, the romance and the idealism.
His latest, Away We Go puts a more hopeful, if equally improbable, spin on the same matter. If American Beauty was Goth angst tug-of-war with suburban materialism, then Away We Go is the happy slacker quest for Eden.
Still, all is not idyllic in Away We Go. Burt (The Office’s John Krasinski) and Verona (the intriguing Maya Rudolph from the current Saturday Night Live cast) are a thirtysomething interracial couple expecting their first child. Burt, in a scruffy beard and glasses worthy of a Crumb cartoon (Krasinski is nearly unidentifiable), toils in insurance as a risk advisor (or something like that - it’s not important what he does, just that he can do it over the telephone while they’re on the road). The couple lives in a modest abode in a Colorado ‘burb, not too far from Burt’s parents, Jerry and Gloria Farlander. Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara play the self-absorbed, indifferent soon to be paternal grandparents. If part of the “American Dream” for expectant parents is having grandparents who fully embrace the new addition to the family, then Mendes has upended yet another aspect with these two. Burt’s parents are so stuck on themselves that they are much more excited about their decision to relocate to Europe than they are about the impending birth of their first grandchild.
Jerry and Gloria’s announcement leaves Burt and Verona to wonder existentially - what are we doing with our lives and that of our soon-to-be child?
Like the Wheelers in Revolutionary Road, the pair find themselves suddenly disenchanted with their station in life. Their solution is to invoke the mantra of the title to find the perfect nesting location for their child. So, away they go, with her pronouncedly rotund (six months pregnant) belly leading the way. Around the country (and Canada!) they go to visit family and friends. They figure it’s a win-win scenario: they get to catch up on their pasts while evaluating each locale for its lifestyle and career desirability.
Predictably, every dreamy destination turns into a nightmare. In Phoenix, a former coworker of Verona’s (Allison Janney,) a high functioning alcoholic, decides to deliver some shocking news to her husband and children at the time of their visit. In Madison, Burt’s childhood friend Ellen (Maggie Gyllenhaal, putting plenty of gusto into the role,) a professor of literature, breast feeds her toddler (and other’s toddlers as well) with no regard to what else is happening at the time. Gyllenhaal plays the perfect earth mother with the peace-love-and-happiness ideals which barely mask the raving control freak underneath. It is fairly certain that after the visit, Burt and Ellen will never speak again.
The script, written by literati Dave Eggers, the publisher behind McSweeney’s, author of five books including A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and a force behind the 826 Project that teaches kids to write, and his wife Vida, is dry and witty, almost to the point of being smug. There’s a lot of circumlocution about an average couple’s somewhat average discontent.
Given the state of the economy, I’d bet plenty of families would gladly trade up to Burt and Verona’s humble residence in Colorado. And as a first time expectant parent myself I couldn’t help thinking Burt and Verona should have worked through the whole life story thing before the final trimester. I mean, I understand the jitters, but in this soon to be dad’s eyes, Burt and Verona’s journey looks like adding a marathon to a jog around Fresh Pond.
Eggers and his wife Vida do layer in interesting subtext about race - that we live in a world where biracial children will ultimately make race a non-issue; and unions - that we live in a world where they are not necessary for parenthood (Burt and Verona are not married and are not sure they want to be) - that gives Away We Go depth. But there is something about the tone of the film that feels somewhat arrogant and indifferent to the current state of reality for most Americans.
Perhaps it’s the film’s timing. Burt and Verona are a likeable pair and the situations they step into are laughable and well concocted, it’s just that the desire to want to “shop around” for an ideal life seems strangely self-indulgent, sort of like moving to Belgium right before the birth of your very first grandchild.
Comments
Could not disagree with you more. The point of the story was not to find THE ideal place to raise a child, it was for them to find what they consider to be the perfect place to raise their child, and that it has nothing to do with geography. And while plenty of people might envy where they began or where they end up, neither can be considered the lap of luxury. You make it sound as if they land in a sprawling mcmansion in suburbia.
Lastly, good for you that you “have worked through the whole life story thing before the final trimester” (now who’s being smug?) but I think it’s perfectly reasonable to accept that an unmarried couple dealing with an unplanned pregnancy might be facing a bit of soul searching & life evaluation.
I hope your cynical take on this film doesn’t discourage others from enjoying it.
First, thank you for reading and responding.
On the matter of ideals, I believe ideals, idyllic POVs, conceptions perfection and Eden are all byproducts of personal tastes and preferences. So the definition of the “ideal place to raise a child” is what they state it to be onscreen, not something I am interpreting for them. And you’re right (and I think it’s implied in the review) that their ideal is not my ideal, or your ideal or Obama’s ideal. Raising a child and how you do that is a very personal choice. The issue I question the film on, is not their desire, but the timing of it and the perceived indulgence of that want given a time when people are really struggling and hard pressed just to eat—or so that’s the point I was trying to make in the conclusion of the review.
I’m assuming from your comment, that you have seen the movie. If you have not, SPOILER alert—stop here!
Still with me? Ok, so I found the arc of the story a tad manipulate. From the get go, you can see them back where they stared or somewhere simple, and when you learn of the mother’s house, you knew that is where they would end up, or at least, I was not surprised by it at the end.
As far as my child soon-to-be goes, there is a lot to be worked out and a ton of questions and uncertainties. There’s a lot to juggle and a lot of big life questions come up frequently. That said, would I think of reordering my entire life because my parents are indifferent about their grandchild-to-be? No, we’ve got a hospital and an OB picked out, and are in the heat of day care planning. Now should I magically inherit a stately, but worn manse by a lake as the pair in Away We Go did, then that is a different ballgame all together.
I hope that helps illuminate things.
Thanks again for your response.
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