Revolutionary Road

Adapted from an acclaimed novel by Richard Yates, directed by Oscar-winner Sam Mendes and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet (together for the first time since "Titanic"), "Revolutionary Road" roared into the awards season with great credentials. It's beautifully mounted, grandly realized and exactingly photographed by the great Roger Deakins. In fact, the story of a middle-class couple straining against the stifling social conformity of late '50s America is so carefully acted and directed that it never breathes on its own. These are performances – and lives – in quotation marks, with a supporting cast serving little more than a chorus of disapproval. The exception is Michael Shannon, who brings a spark of individuality to a literary cliché: the crazy man (literally: He's on a day trip from the asylum) presumptuously calling out the hypocrisy of everyone. The rest is so self-consciously serious that it weighs the film down.

Director Sam Mendes and screenwriter Justin Haythe explore the process of adapting the novel and shaping the film on the commentary track and on the five deleted scenes. The discussion of their different takes on the characters and the performances and the conversion of novel to film offers some insight to the collaborative process. "Lives of Quiet Desperation: The Making of Revolutionary Road" is a half-hour featurette with the usual interviews and comments, but the liberal use of alternate takes and behind-the-scenes footage does attempt to illustrate the way filmmakers and performers work through the material to find their film. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a feature on the author of the novel: "Richard Yates: The Wages of Truth."