Sam Mendes · 2009 · road

Sam Mendes's 2009 road film, written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. A couple six months pregnant and with nothing holding them anywhere tour the friends and family of North America looking for somewhere to raise a child - Phoenix, Tucson, Madison, Montreal, Miami - and every stop is a warning.

1. 1
   Colorado

   Burt and Verona are six months pregnant and living outside Denver to be near his parents, who choose this moment to announce they are moving to Belgium for two years. Which leaves no reason to be in Colorado.

2. 2
   Phoenix

   Verona's old boss Lily, loud and vulgar and cruel to her children in front of guests, and a husband who has retreated somewhere behind his own eyes. A day at the dog track. Not Phoenix, then.

3. 3
   Tucson

   Verona's sister Grace, her only living relative, and the conversation about their dead parents that Verona has been avoiding for years - the one warm stop, and still not a place to stay.

4. 4
   Madison

   Reached by train, because an airline would not board her that far along. Burt's childhood friend LN, a stroller received as an insult, and a household so certain of itself that leaving feels like an escape.

5. 5
   Montreal

   College friends, a good night, pancakes - and then the thing underneath it, which is five miscarriages and a marriage held together over them. The first place they seriously consider, and the reason they do not.

6. 6
   Miami

   An emergency call: Burt's brother, whose wife has walked out, sitting up at night with a daughter who will grow up without a mother. Nothing to fix, only to be there for.

7. 7
   The lakeside house

   Verona's parents' house in Florida, empty since they died and never sold - the porch, the water, the place she has not been able to go back to. They stop looking and sit down.