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.
If you dig into the lives of the screenwriters Vendela Vida and David Eggers, you'll notice that there are a lot of similarities to the main characters they wrote.in their first produced film Away We Go. The only difference is that it seemed that they switched the genders in the actual film. Eggers' personality is played by the pregnant Maya Rudolph (Verona De Tessant) and Vida's personality is the male partner played by John Krasinski (Burt Farlander). So the lesson here when you want your first script sold is to write what you know but just switch the genders. After all, if you really truly think about it, men and woman are not that different. And it brings out your imagination more if you are a male and you are writing a pregnant female version of yourself. That would be a lot of fun.
I really liked Away We Go. Six months into the 2009 year, this is my favorite movie by far. Of course I am aware that no one is probably going to see this film. It's too on the nose in terms of our real life. This movie is about real situations and real personal thoughts and feelings. I am glad these movies are still being made because I do believe that these are the films that have the most entertainment value. And I'm not downing on Hollywood studio productions either. There is definitely a place for X-Men, Transformers and James Bond. But those movies are pretty basic if you really break it down. You know exactly what's going to happen in the end. It's not like Sam and Mikela are going to die in the desert and the world as we know it is going to end. But in a movie like Away We Go, you have no idea what's going to happen in an upcoming moment, much less in the end of it all. So I am much more engaged by it, I end up caring for the characters a whole lot more and therefore I am very entertained.
This is a film about a couple who are expecting a child in a few months and are scared out of there mind about it. They want to be good parents but are not sure whether they will be or not. They want help from others because they think they can't do it themselves and when Burt's parents leave for Belgium, they feel they are truly alone without any support. So they set off to find the people who might possibly help them out. In there North American travels they meet the "bad" parents, the "pretentious" parents, the "sad" parents and the "abandoned" parents. We also meet the "dead" parents through Verona's sister and a feeling that is lost inside of her.
Usually in life when someone is scared of something, it's because they care a great deal about it. These two people want to be good parents and are nervous they might not be. That kind of tells you that they both probably will be because they care so much. They are not blinded by the fact that this is a great responsibility OR overconfident in who they are as a person. In fact, that is what these two character's greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses are. They are very much aware of who they are. Which of course will make them good parents.
Being a parent is the most important job a person will have. And there isn't a magic formula or philosophy because parents themselves come in many different shapes, sizes, experiences and personalities. The only thing a parent can do is be the best they can for their child. But it's important for the parents to prepare their parenthood the best way they can. Verona and Burt meet up with many of their prior influences and when they do they get to figure out a bit about themselves.
This is a perfectly executed film and the performances all around kind of surprised me. Maya Rudolph especially pulls off one heck of a performance. And she really didn't think she would ever act in a movie. Sam Mendes saw something in her and Krasinski, two TV actors who obviously can make the transition to the big screen. And two comedic actors who can make the transition to dramatic roles. They say if you can act comedy you can act anything. And more of these actors definitely proved that. Hopefully the Academy will remember them in 7 months.
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