sam mendes classics collection booklet
CONTENT
American Beauty . ................. 04 Road to Perdition . ................ 12 Revolutionary Road . ............ 20 Away We Go . ......................... 28
AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999)
AMERICAN BEAUTY
INFORMATION Released: 1999 Duration: 122 min Director: Sam Mendes Cast: Kevin Spacey, Annette Bening, Thora Birch Screenwriter: Alan Ball Producer: Bruce Cohen, Dan Jinks Co-producer: Alan Ball, Stan Wlodowski Cinematography: Conrad L. Hall Art Direction: David Lazan Music: Thomas Newman Editor: Tariq Anwar, Christopher Greenbury
PLOT SUMMARY Lester Burnham, a depressed suburban father in a mid-life crisis, decides to turn his hectic life around after developing an infatuation for his daughter’s attractive friend.
AWARDS won Academy Awards (2000) Best Director — S am Mendes won Golden Globe (2000) Best Director — S am Mendes won Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (2000) Best Director — S am Mendes
0 8 — 0 7
A M E R IC A N B E AU T Y
I’m dead already. CRITIC REVIEWS “A wonder of a film — a luminous, beautifully executed drama that gathers the best cast of the year — t he best American film of the year.” — San Francisco Chronicle, Edward Guthmann “Spacey is diamond-brilliant in a role that plays as if custom-made for him.” — Boston, GlobeJay Carr “A blood-chilling da rk comedy with unexpected moments of both fury and warmth, a strange, brooding and very accomplished film that sets us back on our heels from its opening frames.”
— Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan
10 — 0 9
1999 1999 1999 1999
A M E R IC A N B E AU T Y
ROAD TO PERDITION (2002)
ROAD TO RERDITION
INFORMATION Released: 2002 Duration: 117 min Director: Sam Mendes Cast: Tom Hanks, Tyler Hoechlin, Rob Maxey Screenwriter: David Self Producer: Sam Mendes, Dean Zanuck, Richard D. Zanuck Executive Producer: Joan Bradshaw, Walter F. Parkes Cinematography: Conrad L. Hall Art Direction: Richard L. Johnson Music: Thomas Newman Editor: Jill Bilcock
PLOT SUMMARY Bonds of loyalty are put to the test when a hitman’s son witnesses what his father does for a living.
AWARDS won Kinema Junpo Awards (2003) Best Foreign Language Film — S am Mendes nominated London Critics Circle Film Awards (2003) British Director of the Year — S am Mendes nominated Phoenix Film Critics Society Awards (2003) Best Director — S am Mendes nominated Venice Film Festival (2002)
1 6 — 1 5
R OA D T O P E R DI T IO N
I want to feel things. CRITIC REVIEWS “Has the juice to get its hooks into you, knock you off balance and keep you that way for two hours. It’s a triumph for director Sam Mendes. The passion and precision of his Road work is staggering.” — Rolling Stone, Peter Travers
“Choice, a luxury of the Corleones, is denied to the Sullivans and Rooneys, and choice or its absence is the difference between Sophocles and Shakespeare. I prefer Shakespeare.” — Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert
1 8 — 1 7
2 0 02 2 0 02 2 0 02 2 0 02
R OA D T O P E R DI T IO N
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (2009)
REVOLUTIONARY ROAD
INFORMATION Released: 2009 Duration: 119 min Director: Sam Mendes Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Christopher Fitzgerald Screenwriter: Justin Haythe Producer: Sam Mendes, Bobby Cohen, John Hart, Scott Rudin Executive Producer: Henry Fernaine, Marion Rosenberg, Executive Producer: David M. Thompson Cinematography: Roger Deakins Art Direction: Teresa Carriker-Thayer Art Direction: John Kasarda, Nicholas Lundy Music: Thomas Newman Editor: Tariq Anwar
PLOT SUMMARY A young couple living in a Connecticut suburb during the mid-1950s struggle to come to terms with their personal problems while trying to raise their two children. Based on a novel by Richard Yates.
AWARDS nominated Golden Globes (2009) Best Director — S am Mendes nominated Bodil Awards (2008) Best American Film nominated Robert Festival (2010) Best American Film
2 4 — 2 3
R E VOLU T IO N A R Y R OA D
A re we fuck ups?
2009 2009 2009 2009
CRITIC REVIEWS “Handsomely done and beautifully acted, just slightly wanting in a screenplay that leaves questions unan swered about what’s behind these unhappy people. And it’s ultra-depressing.”
— Empire, Angie Errigo
“It’s not quite up to the caliber of Richard Yates’ novel, which is deeply nuanced and rich in subtext. But the performances are superb, and the film is beautifully shot.”
R E VOLU T IO N A R Y R OA D
— USA Today, Claudia Puig
AWAY WE GO (2009)
AWAY WE GO
INFORMATION Released: 2009 Duration: 98 min Director: Sam Mendes Cast: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Allison Janney Screenwriter: Dave Eggers, Vendela Vida Producer: Peter Saraf, Edward Saxon, Marc Turtletaub Executive Producer: Pippa Harris, Mari-Jo Winkler Cinematography: Ellen Kuras Art Direction: Henry Dunn Music: Alexi Murdoch Editor: Sarah Flack
PLOT SUMMARY A couple who is expecting their first child travel around the U.S. in order to find a perfect place to start their family. Along the way, they have misadventures and find fresh connections with an assortment of relatives and old friends who just might help them discover “home” on their own terms for the first time.
AWARDS nominated Black Reel Awards (2010) Best Actress — Maya Rudolph nominated Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (2009) Best Actress — Maya Rudolph Best Screenplay, Original — D ave Eggers, Vendela Vida nominated Teen Choice Awards (2009) Choice Summer Movie: Romance
3 2 — 3 1
AWAY W E G O
Wha
3 4 — 3 3
at are we doing? 2009 2009 2009 2009
CRITIC REVIEWS “The episodic structure works to the movie’s benefit, highlighting the eccentric supporting characters and allowing Mendes to smoothly downshift from hilarity to sadness.”
— Chicago Reader, J.R. Jones
“A gilded entry in the cinema du quirk. It’s a movie that invites you, all too often, to feel superior to the people on screen.” — Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman
AWAY W E G O
COLOPHON
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