Revolutionary Road (2008)

Everyone has a world of his own to conquer. It is impossible to sacrifice one's own world in order to make others happy. Instead, one must discover and inhabit the world of one's own first. Only then, one can become a good host to others.

This motion picture draws on a commonly exploited theme, a conflict between a stupid man and a sensitive woman. The conflict does strike one as being a little exaggerated, but then, perhaps, suburban people do indeed come in such a variety. The players overact, but Kate Winslet keeps this overacting within the bounds of decency. Even though at moments, when in arguments, she appears a little uncomfortable, this is consistent with the awkwardness of her character's situation.

Given the portrayed lack of understanding between Leonardo DiCaprio's and Kate Winslet's characters, one wonders whether the couple were doomed regardless of their location, be it a city or suburbia. Since suburbia is a catalyst, not the principal ingredient, of the couple's conflict, the impact of the conflict as a critique of suburbia is diminished. Nonetheless, the inability of Kate Winselet's character to adapt to suburban life and the bordering-on-the-grotesque portrayal of the neighbourhood's inhabitants succeed at capturing the atmosphere of the "hopeless emptiness of life here."

Last Chance Harvey (2008)

People often fail to recognise the arbitrariness of the reference points against which they measure their decisions. Reassessing the status quo, however, may lead to the realisation that inaction is a gamble whereas action offers a safe return, not the other way around.

Typically, an action, with its outcome uncertain, can lead to disappointment and regret, but so can inaction. Therefore, one is encouraged to act and thereby be alive. And if one is in a city, one just might act not alone.

Ride the Pink Horse (1947)

The lives of others fascinate, especially if one has no life of one's own. If poverty deprives one of the ability to fashion one's own life, one is prepared to pay dearly for being an extra in someone's else B movie, in the hope that the movie comes true.