Negative Festival Reviews Emerge for 'The Road'

At the Telluride Film Festival, members of the press finally had a chance to see The Road, the long-awaited adaptation of the post-apocalyptic Cormac McCarthy novel. The film, directed by John Hillcoat and starring Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, and Kodi Smit-McPhee, was supposed to open last fall, but The Weinstein Company put all its awards weight behind The Reader. Worked last year; could lightning strike twice? That depends on who you ask, of course, but the first reviews indicate that it probably won't. The Hollywood Reporter, which is usually fair but not all that firm, says that Hillcoat does "an admirable job" with the material, "even at the cost of sacrificing color, big scenes and standard Hollywood imagery of post-apocalyptic America." Instead of going the Children of Men route, Hillcoat goes pretty lo-fi, according to the trade. Of course, he'd almost have to, given the state of affairs in the film. In Contention was less kind, saying it becomes clear that "atmosphere may have been preferred over characterization."

"Ultimately, the tale itself feels doomed as a piece of cinema, forever confined to a more effective state on the page, where it knows only the limits of your imagination. Here, it is a wandering sort of entertainment that doesn’t know whether to be shocking or profound. Ultimately, it is neither, leaving merely a bleak residue of style in the shadow of potential substance."

And Variety? More of the same:

"This Road leads nowhere. If you’re going to adapt a book like Cormac McCarthy’s 2006 bestseller, you’re pretty much obliged to make a terrific film or it’s not worth doing — first because expectations are high, and second, because the picture needs to make it worth people’s while to sit through something so grim."

That's probably not the reaction the filmmakers were hoping to hear. But it's still early, and festival press expects to be wowed in many cases, and it's incredibly frustrating when a film is just good enough. So we'll see how it fares on a level playing field.

Comments

[nick soapdish]

I've read the book, and I kind of had the sense that the atmosphere itself was a major character in the book. There wasn't much information given about the father or the child, so character development would be kind of difficult.

I understand that this is a movie and the characters are what you watch, but maybe the director was trying to make it feel more like the book. The book is stark and atmospheric. There's actually a scene, if I remember correctly, where they are just sitting in the rain, in the dark, listening to the world around them. It's possible they did a good job with the adaptation.

[Get The Big Picture]

Yes, that's very possible. However, it's a completely different medium and being exacting with regard to faithfulness to the source material is not always the best way to make a movie. I'm still excited to see it, though, and again, I think we could be dealing with very high expectations on this one, and that might be the reason for the bad notices so far.

[quin browne]

i agree that the atmosphere, the conditions they dwell in, were as much a character as the man or the boy.

i'm sad to read this, actually.... but, not surprised. this remains in my top three books of my life.. the language is so rich and textured, i wanted to learn braille so i could feel the words.

perhaps, this is a novel that would have been better off on page only... but, with the success of 'no country' and the high sales, that would never happen.

*sigh*

[Bay Area]

Rape is a terrible crime. I've read the brilliant screenplay. Obviously it was fucked against its will.