By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 3 cats
Director: John Hillcoat
Starring: Charlize Theron | Guy Pearce | Kodi Smit-McPhee | Molly Parker | Robert Duvall | Viggo Mortenson
Country: united_states
Year: 2009
Running time: 112
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/
Diane says: “Forgive me, I can only review this as movie vs. book. I read the book once, and listened to the audiobook three times. I am awed by Cormac McCarthy’s language in The Road. ‘The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth.’ ‘The soft black talc blew through the streets like squid ink uncoiling on the sea floor.’ Etc.
“Once I learned that the trailer misrepresented the movie, I felt safe in seeing it. Events are naturally and suitably compressed in the film. The look is good. There were some gestures in the film that I was very grateful for–I did not imagine them at all when I read the book, and they added much meaning to the exchanges. The film is not as gruesome as the book.
“What I didn’t like: the ratio of flashback to current time is much greater in the film, and it is more jarring because of the past’s bright colors instead of the present’s gray. I think there was too much of the mother in the film. Because of the cutting, you lose a lot of the wonderful rhythmic repetitions in the conversation between the boy and the man. There’s a stronger impact for the reader when those rhythms change. The conflict between the man and the boy is not as artfully developed in the movie or as pronounced. The father in the book is like one possessed–he’s a bit too sane in the movie.
“I think I’m giving it 3 cats. It’s good, but it didn’t have the power over me that the book does. I look forward to hearing what others think. A thought while viewing: people shouldn’t eat popcorn when others in the room (albeit 2-D) are starving.”