The Road

WHAT: The Road
WHERE: Coventry Showcase
WHO: Me and Becky
WHEN: Tuesday 26/01/2010

After an attempt to see this film last Friday was aborted in favour of a drinking session, Me and Becky decided that we would go alone to see the film that was appealing to me from the current crop of films that are out there. The original plan was to get something to eat and then catch the film however this film was not being shown at my cinema of choice (Nuneaton Odeon) and was only being shown at 7:15 or 10pm in Coventry showcase, so as it was a school night we decided to forego the food and just catch the film at the earlier showing. I don’t know how many of you have been to Coventry Showcase but it is an experience. Not only is it more expensive than the Nuneaton Odeon but it is like stepping into a time warp. Although the seats are so old they are actually quite comfortable. Just a shame that the place is so expensive

So I can hear you all screaming what did you think of the film? Well I’m going to tell you.

If you are looking for a bleak depressing dark dismal film about a man and a child struggling to survive in a world that has been dead for longer than one of them as been alive then you should look no further than John Hillcoats “The Road” Written by the man who wrote one of the worst films I’ve ever seen and starring an actor who is in another one of the worst films I’ve ever seen (No country for old men and a history of violence respectively) This film should have been very far off my radar and it had no right to appeal to me as much as it did but I got drawn in by one of my favourite story angles. How do you survive after the world has ended? Never has a dead world been put onto screen as well as it is in this. The only thing living In this world are the weakened and gaunt humans that have somehow managed to survive a global catastrophe that is never explained and only implied by the sounds of loud explosions, fire and in various flashbacks screaming people heard in the distance. Every tree, bush, hedge, blade of grass that we see in this film is dead and the trees constantly giving up there grip in the dead earth and crashing to the floor is just one of the many perils that the unnamed man and boy face.

At its heart this film is a story of how far a parents love will go for a child and the scene of man teaching boy how to use a revolver to end his own life just in case the situation should ever arise is especially poignant. This is an acting master class provided by a man who I have never rated as an actor but in this Viggo Mortenson proves that he has got what it takes to play with the bog boys. The show here though is stolen by his 13 year old counterpart newcomer Kodi Smit-Mcphee who, whilst not only having one of the coolest names I have ever heard, is astonishing when you consider that this is his first major role of any kind. I defy even the manliest man to not choke back a tear at any point that Kodi demands it from you.

This film however is not perfect, far from it, It will be and has been criticised by a lot of people who don’t like it’s snail like pace and if you go in looking for a convoluted story with twists and turns you wont find it here. This film is literally just people trying there very best to survive in the most difficult of circumstances. There is no great adventure or big set pieces, it will not make you feel good, in fact it will do quite the opposite, it is not pretty and at times it is an incredibly difficult watch. I don’t want to say I enjoyed this film because that doesn’t feel right but the best bit of praise I can give it is to say that I will watch it again and I would even recommend it to certain people. But this is not for the casual film fan this film is for fans of quality acting and if you can honestly say that that is what you want from a film then this is for you.

6.5/10