Away We Go

Sam Mendes has established himself as a director of quite powerful dramas with films such as American Beauty, The Road to Perdition and Revolutionary Road so it was a slight surprise to find that his name was attached to this indie road movie. 
 
Burt and Verona, a couple in their thirties, live in a rundown house in Colorado near Burt's parents who have promised to help out when Verona, now 6 months pregnant, gives birth.  It therefore comes as something of a surprise when, over dinner, they casually drop the bombshell that they plan to move to Antwerp for two years the month before the baby is due.  With no home or real support network, the couple embark on a trip around continental America to visit friends and family, looking for a place to settle and pick up parenting tips along the way.
 

Whether it's Verona's sister in Tucson, an old friend in Phoenix, Burt's brother Miami or college friends in Montréal, everyone they meet has something to add as words of advice and a potential place for Burt to get a better job selling insurance.
 
With the relatively inexperienced film actors Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski (with whom Mendes worked on Jarhead) in the leads, Mendes assembled a fantastic supporting cast including Jeff Daniels, Catherine O'Hara, Allison Janney and Maggie Gyllenhaal who each bring something funny and memorable to the table.  The script was written by real life couple Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, who based the story on their own experiences as a pregnant couple, and has a sense of authenticity.  Along with the undoubted humour is a real sense of pathos and it is a moving and engaging film as Burt and Verona are wonderful characters and a great couple who are easy to empathise with and grow to love on their journey.
 
Although Verona is very much the heart of Away We Go, it is her relationship with Burt (who she refuses to marry despite his many heartfelt proposals) and the encounters with the weird and wonderful people on the road trip that create the drama and humour.  Of the many different people, Allison Janney is fantastic as Verona's former boss and friend Lily and there is a wonderful stopover in Madison, Wisconsin where they meet Burt's childhood friend Ellen, now going by just LN, whose outlook on life with her husband is just toe curlingly awful.  Both are wealthy trust fund babies who have an 'alternative' lifestyle, believing that you don't keep anything from your children, including your sex life, and keep them as close to you for as long as possible.
 
I had no idea what to expect from Away We Go as all I knew was that it was an indie romantic comedy directed by Sam Mendes, a filmmaker for whom I have a great deal of time and respect.  He certainly doesn't disappoint on the technical side but it was his handling of the wonderful screenplay by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida that most impressed.  The film is full of brilliant situations and fantastic actors who do a great job with the dialogue and Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski are a plausible and engaging couple.  As with (500) Days of Summer, I was pleasantly surprised with this and found it a much more rewarding and enjoyable experience than I was anticipating.

The Disc

 
Extra Features
For the audio commentary, Mendes is joined by Eggers and Vida and they provide an entertaining and informative track, talking about the writing process and how they handed off to Mendes, only seeing what he'd done with their material at the first screening.  Mendes discusses the changes he made to the script, scenes he originally deleted before realising they were necessary and his filming style.  The writers ask him the right questions for him to provide answers about filmmaking and he allows them enough time to talk about writing.
 
The disc only two other bonus features, a making of featurette and a piece on how they made the shoot as green as possible by using hybrid cars, recycling and not using bottled water.  The Making of Away We Go is by no means comprehensive or lengthy, running at only around 15 minutes, but there are enough interviews with members of the cast and crew to make it enlightening and worth a watch.
 
The Picture
Unusually for a film of this nature, Away We Go was shot in anamorphic 2.35:1 which is beautifully transferred onto DVD.  The excellent direction by Sam Mendes is helped by superb work by the art department who help with the different colour palettes and using real locations rather than shooting everything on set. 
 
As so much of the film is about travelling and movement, the wide aspect ratio comes into play with the backgrounds and, though much of the work was done in Connecticut, the location shooting pays dividends with great shots of the Arizona desert and the great American outdoors.
 
The Sound
You have the option of Dolby Digital 5.1 surround or 2.0 stereo and they both present the dialogue extremely well.  The surround track is clearly the winner when it comes to the score and music which plays such a huge role in the mood and narrative.  Mendes worked with singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch to provide original songs that fit into the film, not just as background music but as something integral to the plot.
 
Final Thoughts
Away We Go is a film that deserves much more exposure than it has had.  To my knowledge it didn't even appear at the local multiplexes and was only shown briefly at the local arthouse cinema so its release on DVD is very welcome.  It is an utterly charming film with some genuinely funny moments and is both moving and amusing.  The wonderful performances from the entire cast help but the real star is the screenplay which has so much heart and realism that you can't help but believe that some of the more outrageous scenes actually happened.  I really enjoyed this and would recommend it to those who tend to like romantic comedies and even those who, like me, don't.