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On the Road (16+,128mins) Directed by Walter Salles ***½
“There are sections in which the writing is of a beauty almost breathtaking…there is some writing…that has never been equalled in American fiction, either for insight, style, or technical virtuosity.”
Not everyone initially agreed with The New York Times reviewer Gilbert Millstein’s assessment of Jack Kerouac’s 1957 novel On The Road. But more than 65 years on, this largely autobiographical account of his five-year adventure criss-crossing America is one of the most studied and influential novels of the 20th Century. It inspired the likes of Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison and Hunter S Thompson.
In 2012, thanks to French and British money, a Brazilian director and a Puerto Rican screenwriter we finally got Tron Legacy’s Garrett Hedlund and Control’s Sam Riley bringing to life the misadventures, misdeeds and multiple love affairs of Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise (Kerouac’s pseudonyms for his good friend Neal Cassady and himself).
In many ways, director Walter Salles was the perfect fit for the film. His The Motorcycle Diaries was a similar period-road movie, in which he beautifully and entertainingly chronicled Che Guevara and Alberto Granado’s South American odyssey.
On the Road is an episodic, almost free-form tale featuring characters unsure of which city they’re planning to wake up in the next day.
Supplied
Sam Riley, Kristen Stewart and Garett Hedlund teamed up for On the Road.
To be fair, Hedlund makes for a charismatic, if caddish Moriarty (very much a guy’s guy), while Riley is an engaging guide to this world of jazz, poetry and drugs. Further down the cast list clever and scene-stealing appearances abound. Steve Buscemi, Kirsten Dunst, Amy Adams and Viggo Mortensen do sterling work (the latter particularly impressive as Old Bull Lee, Kerouac’s cypher for beat generation guru William Burroughs).
But all eyes were on Kristen Stewart, in one of her first post-Twilight roles, playing good-time girl Marylou. While some at the time may have struggled to divorce the character from the tabloid travails of the actor, she actually proves to be a good fit for the troubled teen.
However, there is also a sense that the film trades on her star power. Here was a movie where you could see her roll a spliff, bare her breasts and indulge in a threesome.
Those and other antics earned the film an R18 when it was first released here, temporarily denying a large potential audience (from the book and Stewart fans) a chance of seeing it.
There will be those quibbling with some of the finer points of the adaptation, but this is a solid, atmospheric and evocative take on what is a seminal slice of 20th Century literature.
On the Road is now available to stream on ThreeNow.
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