Mendes’ Away We Go a Lyrical Lark
Burt Farlander (John Krasinski) and Verona De Tessant (Maya Rudolph) are going to have a baby. The loving pair is overjoyed about the news, if a little bit worried about whether or not they’re actually ready to be parents. But as they live close to Burt’s parents Gloria (Catherine O'Hara) and Jerry (Jeff Daniels) their positive all will be okay, after all two loving grandparents can’t help but be massive hopes to the young couple as they journey into parenthood for the very first time.
John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph in Focus Features' Away We Go
Or maybe not. It seems Gloria and Jerry have decided to move to Europe and leave Burt and Verona behind. They’re even renting out the house, not to them, but to strangers, not wanting to burden the pair with maintenance and upkeep even if it would have drastically cut their living expenses down to just about nothing.
Realizing they no longer have anything trying them to the area, the twosome decide to travel and meet up with old acquaintances and relatives, maybe discover a new city and a group of new friends they can call as their very own. But the road is many times hard and most times long, twisting and winding in ways they can’t begin to fathom. Where it ultimately leads them is the last place they’d have expected it to, Burt and Verona coming to the revelation that all they really need to call home is the loving arms of the person lovingly standing beside them.
Director Sam Mendes, known for dark and foreboding emotional melodramas like Revolutionary Road, The Road to Perdition and American Beauty, take a turn towards the lighter side with the miraculous and moving comedic drama Away We Go. Writing by acclaimed authors Dave Eggars and Vendela Vida, this is a movie straight out of left field and one I never would have anticipated loving near as much as I do in a million years. It is richly poignant perfection, the whole thing taking me on a deeply satisfying trip the heart yet doing it with a funny tenacity that constantly got me to smile.
While the description is relatively simple, the film itself is anything but. Burt and Verona are people of the modern age, thirty-somethings adrift in a weird wasteland of instant access and technological wizardry that’s cold, calculating and almost impossible to embrace. Yet they are not slackers and they certainly are not losers. These are people who know what is right, can tell what is wrong and know exactly what kind of people they want to be (and associate with), the landing spot the only thing keeping them accomplishing it.
Not a huge fan of NBC’s version of “The Office,” and as one who was only lukewarm to Leatherheads and pretty much loathed License to Wed, I’ve never quite understood the fascination with Krasinski. His talents have eluded me until now, but thanks to Mendes, Eggars and Vida I now have to go back and do a full reassessment. He is a total delight as Burt, the complexities of his character arrived at honestly and with true emotional inspiration.
Still, Krasinski ends up not being able to hold a candle to Rudolph. The “Saturday Night Live” mainstay is an absolute marvel in this, and as she and her co-star are in nearly every scene the longer the film went on the more I found it difficult to take my eyes off of her. This is a performance oozing in authenticity and I felt every word as it came out of her mouth as if it were my very own. She is a revelation, and without a doubt this instantly goes into my brainpan as one of the 2009 acting jobs I’m sure to revisit many times over for sure.
As for the director, as always he casts his film immaculately (Maggie Gyllenhaal and an unrecognizable Josh Hamilton have almost superbly whacked-out cameos, while Allison Janney threatens to steal the movie completely every time she’s at the center of the screen),and is knack for pacing has always bordered on ideal. He is also once again at the very top of his game behind the camera as well, cinematographer Ellen Kuras (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and production designer Jess Gonchor (Burn After Reading) delivering some of the best work of their entire careers. 
