Burt and Verona are expecting their first child, and when Burt's parents announce they are moving abroad, the couple realizes nothing ties them to Denver. They travel to visit friends and family in several cities to find a place to raise the baby. Look at how each stop acts as a mirror.
Away We Go is a 2009 comedy, drama and romance film directed by Sam Mendes. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative, 1 sound and 1 psychology), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood uses several of the same techniques.
Telling the story as a loose string of separate adventures, often following a low-status hero through different levels of society. With no single plot, the episodes add up to a portrait of a world.
How this film uses it
The film is a string of short visits. Burt and Verona travel from Phoenix to Tucson, Madison, Montreal and Miami, and each stop is its own little story. There is no big villain, and the visits add up to a portrait of how people raise children.
Where to see it
The cross-country trip: From Phoenix to Miami, Burt and Verona visit old friends and relatives, one city at a time, looking for a home.
Staging the same kind of confrontation again and again with different counterparts, so each encounter reveals a new side of the protagonist.
How this film uses it
Each stop shows a different kind of parent. Lily and Lowell in Phoenix are crass and mean to their kids. LN and Roderick in Madison are condescending about their parenting style, and Tom and Munch in Montreal are loving but heartbroken. Burt and Verona learn what they want by seeing what they do not.
Where to see it
The stroller visit in Madison: Burt and Verona bring a gift stroller that angers LN, and Burt tells them they are horrible people before taking their son on a wild stroller ride through the house.
Playing an existing popular song at a precise moment in the film. The song's lyrics, era and associations add irony, period feel or emotion that an original score could not.
How this film uses it
The soundtrack uses songs by Alexi Murdoch in place of an original score, plus other existing songs. The mellow guitar tracks give the road trip a calm, searching feel. The songs sound like how Burt and Verona feel about their choices.
Where to see it
The trampoline night in Miami: Burt and Verona lie outside on a trampoline, promising to love each other and their daughter and have a happy home.
Letting an unspoken loss quietly drive a character's choices, such as refusing a milestone. It comes out late and changes how you read their earlier behavior.
How this film uses it
Verona keeps turning down Burt's proposals, and the reason stays hidden until late. It comes from sadness that her dead parents would not be there for a wedding. Once you know that, her earlier reluctance reads as grief.
Where to see it
The childhood house story: Verona tells Burt about her family home and her parents, who died in a car crash when she was 22, and they decide to settle there.
Questions
Away We Go: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Away We Go use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Away We Go (2009): Picaresque Structure, Repeating Encounter Structure, Pop Music Needle Drop and Grief as Hidden Motive.
Who directed Away We Go?
Sam Mendes directed Away We Go, released in 2009. CineCode also covers American Beauty (1999), Road to Perdition (2002), Jarhead (2005), Revolutionary Road (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015).
What films are similar to Away We Go?
Films that share techniques with Away We Go include Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019), Inherent Vice (2014), Stolen Kisses (1968), Frances Ha (2013).
