The Road

[When_MP_Attacks]

This is exactly the apocalypse film I've always wanted to see. I have not read the book (or anything from McCarthy), but my understanding is that his work is always about the "big questions." Curiously, I would call this adaptation of THE ROAD a film about the little things of apocalypse.

I went in without much expectation either way, and was surprised by how I liked it. Mr. Mortensen is like an American Max Von Sydow.


Time to look into McCarthy...

[njhorror]

I've read a lot of McCarthy and I'm glad to hear that you've enjoyed this. I've heard mixed reactions and I've always assumed that if you hadn't read the book you wouldn't like the movie.
I'm glad to see that I was wrong.

[rresmini]

I'm usually highly enthusiastic regarding McCarthy's novels; the outer dark and blood meridian being my favorites. I find the road severely lacking the quality of what I consider his benchmark work. To be disappointed is an understatement.
I actually enjoy the movie far more than the book. The only reason I was interested in seeing the film was due to director John Hillcoat.

[paeng]

It's the first work by McCarthy that I read and I must say that I appreciated reading it, but probably because of the setting of the story, which I think is a fairly accurate vision of the future, i.e., a combination of a resource crunch (esp. lack of oil), environmental disaster due to global warming and pollution, and other effects, both parallel problems and results, such as epidemics driven by antibiotic-resistant diseases, plant and animal die-offs (which is happening right now), and wars.

[unknown]

I'm a big fan of McCarthy's work and thoroughly enjoyed the novel, The Road. But upon hearing a professor of mine's review of the movie, he too being an ardent McCarthy fan, I decided not to see it. He said the movie is extremely faithful to the novel, but it seems to not quite achieve the dread and feel of the novel. He also said that the film added in five minutes of a flashblack that totally changes The Man's character and motivations. So that concerned me

[damo]

ive loved every one of mccarthys books. outer dark was really that... dark. the atmosphere of blood meridien, my fave, stayed with me for weeks. i truly believe hes up there with the american greats such as steinbeck or tennessee williams (not as well known as a short story writer as he deserves).
the road, to me, was not really about an apocalypse; rather about how much the father loves his son (mccarthys recently had a son at a ripe old age, i believe). the setting etc is almost by-the-by. i found it really emotional and powerful. cant wait to see the film - vigo and guy pearce are both brilliant. (check out 'ravenous' with guy pearce.)

[yellowish haze]

After having watched the action-packed trailer I was having serious doubts about this adaptation. In fact, I was disappointed with the fact they chose McCarthy's the Road, a novel I thoroughly enjoyed, at all - decision which, to me, seemed motivated solely by No Country's success.
However, I have to say that I am quite satisfied with the film. It's faithful to the novel, bleak and nightmarish and sad. The acting is convincing. I really wasn't expecting more than that.

[njhorror]

Quote Originally Posted by damo

ive loved every one of mccarthys books. outer dark was really that... dark. the atmosphere of blood meridien, my fave, stayed with me for weeks. i truly believe hes up there with the american greats such as steinbeck or tennessee williams (not as well known as a short story writer as he deserves). the road, to me, was not really about an apocalypse; rather about how much the father loves his son (mccarthys recently had a son at a ripe old age, i believe). the setting etc is almost by-the-by. i found it really emotional and powerful. cant wait to see the film - vigo and guy pearce are both brilliant. (check out 'ravenous' with guy pearce.)

Damo, what did you think of CHILD OF GOD?

I love this review.

Amazon.com Review

"Scuttling down the mountain with the thing on his back he looked like a man beset by some ghast succubus, the dead girl riding him with legs bowed akimbo like a monstrous frog." Child of God must be the most sympathetic portrayal of necrophilia in all of literature. The hero, Lester Ballard, is expelled from his human family and ends up living in underground caves, which he peoples with his trophies: giant stuffed animals won in carnival shooting galleries and the decomposing corpses of his victims. Cormac McCarthy's much-admired prose is suspenseful, rich with detail, and yet restrained, even delicate, in its images of Lester's activities. So tightly focused is the story on this one "child of God" that it resembles a myth, or parable. "You could say that he's sustained by his fellow men, like you.... A race that gives suck to the maimed and the crazed, that wants their wrong blood in its history and will have it."


I loved it and think that it would make a great movie.

Caves and kooks and all.

[unknown]

I loved Child of God. Lester Ballard is such an interesting character. it's a very introspective look into the mind of a uh "strange" man

[njhorror]

that's why I think it would make a fine movie.


and just think about the soundtrack possibilities.

they're endless.