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Away We Go is a gentle, quirky, and surprising movie
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Film in Focus: Away We Go playing in local theatres now
Away We Go, directed by Sam Mendes, begins with one of the most awkward not-quite love scenes ever filmed. The scene ends with one of the main characters slapping the other and thereby ending the painfully talky dialogue – moving the film, thankfully and quickly, onto much higher ground.
The premise of the movie is simple: boy loves girl, girl loves boy, they get pregnant, unexpectedly but happily, and then realize that they are, and have been, somewhat stagnant since they graduated from college. Timing is now of the essence: what will their livestyle be, or what should it become, before this child arrives? With the girl, Verona, (played gently and flawlessly by SNL cast member Maya Rudolph), already six months’ pregnant, they decide to take a road trip, visiting a variety of family and friends, to discover their best city in which to raise their child and also searching for their best parenting role model.
What ensues on this journey is enough to make anyone want to crawl under the covers of their bed and never come out. Kudos need to go to Allison Janney, who takes the role of frightening suburban mother to new levels and to Maggie Gyllenhaal, who plays a whacked out, totally delusional earth mother that many will recognize from their own neighborhoods. Between visits to the self-indulgent grandparents, former work friends, married college friends, and siblings, it is a wonder that these two characters don’t end up on a psychiatrist’s couch. Instead they end up having an epiphany on a trampoline in Miami where they then exchange their own personal vows of commitment and responsibility.
The film is quirky, odd, and gentle in a goofy uncle kind of way. A great movie for women friends, mothers and daughters, or established couples. Warning: not a good first date movie, as the dialogue is too awkward and the emotional topics too heavy. John Krasinkski (of Office fame) gives an unusually sensitive performance as the loving boyfriend, Burt, trying hard to establish himself in a world that he doesn’t quite recognize as his yet.
Away We Go is playing this week at theFairfield Cinemas and for this reviewer, garners three out of four stars. Take grandma; despite the occasional vulgarity, she will enjoy this film.
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