Aah, what a movie. With a great sigh did I sit in the theater and let the images of this road trip about a very normal couple of our times wash over me. While Alexi Murdoch's beautiful song "Wait" ended the movie I suddenly realized, that neither "American Beauty" nor "Road to Perdition" or even "Revolutionary Road" touched me as much as this quirky and elegiac tale of parenthood and identity. This is Mendes' least ambitious movie but it shows all his strengths as a director and is so incredibly funny, sad and true that it has found a straight way into my heart.
I can imagine all the criticism hurled at the protagonists as poignantly scripted by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vega. Some say they behave snobbishly or indifferent to the supporting cast of characters they encounter during their journey. Which is A.) completely false and B.) sometimes very deserved. Caricatures some of them may be, but they are also very much grounded in reality.
"Away We Go" doesn't strive for social upheaval, or looks to uncover the deeper meanings of our existence, and by not trying to do so achieves the most important thing: It tells a story that breathes and lives, with people we can identify and love, instead of just watching as they pass us by.
I can imagine all the criticism hurled at the protagonists as poignantly scripted by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vega. Some say they behave snobbishly or indifferent to the supporting cast of characters they encounter during their journey. Which is A.) completely false and B.) sometimes very deserved. Caricatures some of them may be, but they are also very much grounded in reality.
"Away We Go" doesn't strive for social upheaval, or looks to uncover the deeper meanings of our existence, and by not trying to do so achieves the most important thing: It tells a story that breathes and lives, with people we can identify and love, instead of just watching as they pass us by.