Thursday
14May2009
Is 'The Road' "The Most Important Movie of the Year"?
Thursday, May 14, 2009 at 12:39AM
It's pretty hyperbolic to say that anything to this point of 2009 is the "most important movie of the year." After all, it's not like the evidence is as compelling as the stack of facts pointing to the most interesting man in the world. But really, it's May. Most of the "important" movies are months and months away.
"[The filmmakers] want the same thing from The Road that Busby Berkeley wanted, the same thing any artist with a sense of urgency wants. They want for people to walk out of the theater feeling it in their chest plate. They want them to say, perhaps for reasons they cannot consciously fathom, to everyone they know: You have to see it. Really."
"You do. Not because it's grim, not because it's depressing, or even scary. The Road is all of those things, both acutely and chronically. But there was not a single stupid choice made in turning this book into this movie. No wrongheaded lyric tribute to the novel. No moment engineered simply to make you jump."I'm not doubting that any of that is true, just that Chiarella can't really leapfrog another six months of movies to make such a lofty claim about the place The Road holds in the pantheon. Still, it's a pretty encouraging review, yes?
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in The Road, Viggo Mortensen | Print Article | Email Article | 1 Comment | Share Article
Reader Comments (1)
I can't wait for this one. Obviously it's to early to tell, but I'm hoping to see this in the Best Picture category next year.
However, I'm with you on Avatar. If it's anything like the hype suggests it will no doubt be the most important film. I saw some interview with one of the actresses and she compared to seeing TV in color for the first time. That's quiet a statement to make.
Avatar, Nine, and The Road look like front runners for Oscar gold. Long way to go though.