THE ROAD (2009) - John Hillcoat

Cormac McCarthy is currently viewed as America’s greatest living author. His books are bestsellers and No Country For Old Men, released as a film in 2007, was a multi-Oscar winning film. His Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Road, a post-apocalyptic road story has now been turned into a film by The Proposition director, John Hillcoat. The book was outstanding, but can the adaptation live up to what is viewed as a modern classic?

The world is dying. After some unnamed apocalyptic event, society has crumbled, millions are dead, and those who survive face a hopeless, grey, dark future. A man and his son travel alone along a road, heading for the coast. They don’t know what they will find there. But they will do all they can to survive the journey. Along the way, the encounter gangs of violent killers, people forced into cannibalism, and lone survivors, trying to find a life but without much hope.



Sounds like a pretty upbeat and joyful film, eh?! It is a grim and relentlessly downbeat film, however there is plenty of beauty to be found within. Central to this are the performances. The cast is populated by very few characters. Other than the man and the boy, most other humans they encounter last barely a few scenes before they are dispatched, or go on their own way. And yet there is not one performance that is in any way weak. The whole film hinges on the relationship between the father and his son. It is through their eyes that we see this dying world. The father is a pragmatist, and will kill to protect his son, the light of his world, and one of the few pure things left in their world. Yet despite his pragmatism, his humanity is been sapped by the fear, paranoia and hopelessness of their situation, and it is up to his son to keep him from losing his humanity completely.

This was the overriding theme of the book, and Hillcoat has successfully managed to retain this vital element in the film. Central to his success is his superb casting of Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the father and son respectively. Mortensen conveys his desperation to instil good values in his son while fighting a situation that brings out the worst in humanity superbly. He successfully manages to be the average man stuck in extraordinarily grim circumstances. Newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee mixes the wide-eyed innocence of a boy who is aware that the world is a dangerous place, but still has the innocence that comes with wanting to be the good guys. And he manages to balance these two elements perfectly. These are two remarkably subtle performances and embody the characters of the book superbly. Also making appearances are Michael K. Williams and Robert Duvall. Both are brilliant in two tiny, yet pivotal roles, and in particular, Robert Duvall does outstanding work with so little to go by.



The Road could very easily have been a disaster of a film. Yet Hillcoat’s brilliant direction finds beauty in what should be a hopeless and somber film. There are few special effects. And yet the world looks like a post-apocalyptic landscape. It’s a film of remarkable subtleties and at times gut-wrenching harshness. And it’s this balance that is what makes The Road such a success. Brilliant performances, a sparse and yet poignant script and outstanding direction make The Road an outstanding start to 2010. We can only hope it’s the beginning of a trend.


9/10

APPALOOSA (2008) - Ed Harris

It seems yonks since 3:10 To Yuma and The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford came out. It was only last year. 2007 was the year of the western. That Ed Harris’ Appaloosa comes well after the release of these films gives is a good thing for the western. If you were to put Appaloosa up against these films, it would be seen as the weakest of the three. It’s a noble effort. But due to some problems with the script and editing, Appaloosa is ultimately a solid, but flawed film.

Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch arrive in the town of Appaloosa looking to bring law and order to a town that seems to have lost it’s way. The town is suffering due to the threat of Randall Bragg, a violent rancher with men who are less interested in law than they are in rape, theft and murder. Cole’s methods are stern. But he sees them as the only way to harmony. When Allison French arrives in the town, Cole sees the potential for a stable life. Something he has never had. But the threat from Bragg, and Allison’s less than reliable loyalty to her man threaten the town, and Cole’s dream of a happy life.



Appaloosa has a lot of strengths. The performances, from a pretty strong cast, are almost spot on. Ed Harris, who directs as well as stars as Virgil Cole is just as strong as he’s been in any film. What’s strange about Appaloosa is the light-heartedness that runs through some of it. Maybe we’ve become accustomed to heavy-handed westerns in everything from Unforgiven to There Will Be Blood. And it would seem that this light-heartedness is entirely intentional. Which isn’t a bad thing. When the film starts it’s shooting (and this is a western. I wanna see plenty of gunfights) it’s pretty good. But unfortunately, for a film that clocks 2 hours, these moments are rare and brief.

The problem with Appaloosa lies in the writing and editing. Harris, and co-writer Robert Knott have plenty to say about love, friendship and all the other things that buddy-movie, love and westerns usually say. However, in a script that could use a lot of trimming, these themes get somewhat lost. The film feels like a mish-mash of ideas that are a little all over the place. Scenes are either too long or too brief with cuts that feel like they’re made just before some more dialogue is spoken. I know that sounds like a contradiction, but there are moments where you feel a little lingering on characters or landscape would be great. And then there are moments that leave you going ‘wait, go back to that!’



As I said, the film is full of great performances. Harris seems to get all the comedy. And he mixes that with the dour nature of Cole pretty well. Viggo Mortensen is, as usual, brilliant. I dunno if directors keep perfectly casting him in roles, or that Mortensen has the uncanny ability of putting himself in any role and make it look like it was written for him. Maybe it’s both. Regardless, he’s yet again the best thing in the movie. Jeremy Irons again proves he makes a great villain, being both loathsome and likable at the same time. And it’s great to see Lance Henriksen get a meaty role for once. The guy deserves more screen time. Renee Zellweger yet again forces the question ‘can Renee Zellweger act?’ There are moments when she’s perfectly fine in her role. Yet there are other times when she just comes across as if she’s been at the stash of marijuana I’m sure one of the grips has stashed away on set.

As I said, Appaloosa isn’t a bad film. It’s just a flawed one. A film that needed a little more focus and direction. Harris does a good job. Just not a great one. The performances are for the most part, excellent. And there are some great moments. It’s just a shame the film wasn’t tidied up a little more and polished.


7/10

First look at 'The Road'

John Hillcoat's adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Road hits screens at the end of this year. The post-apocalyptic story tells of a man who strives to bring his son to safety after the US has been destroyed by an unknown disaster. The film stars Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearse and Robert Duvall. We've seen how badass Viggo can be in the past. Expect great amounts of self-sacrifice!

EASTERN PROMISES (2007) - David Cronenberg

David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen first teamed up with the excellent 2005 comic book adaptation, A History of Violence. Their follow up, Eastern Promises is very much a companion piece to the previous film. Both films are about morally ambiguous men. Both delve into the criminal underworld. And both feature sporadic, and quite graphic violence, that will make some viewers uncomfortable. And like A History of Violence, Eastern Promises is one of the top films of the year of it’s release.

Set at Christmas time in a dark, wet corner of London, Eastern Promises opens with a graphic murder that sets the dark tone of the film. We are then introduced to Anna, a midwife in a hospital who helps deliver the baby of a dying 14 year old girl. Anna discovers the girl’s diary, which is written in Russian and therefore unintelligible to Anna. In the diary, Anna finds a business card for a Russian restaurant. She meets with the restaurant’s owner, Semyon and requests he translates the diary. Unbeknownst to Anna, Semyon is one of the heads of a Russian crime family. His son, Kirill is a psychotic gangster who may be connected to the dead girl. Kirill’s driver and essentially, his keeper is Nikolai. Nikolai proves essential to the family, but is still an outsider. He and Anna form a bond, but through her search for the truth behind the death of the young girl, Anna finds herself getting too close to the dangerous family.



Eastern Promises is a superbly layered, brilliantly paced and impeccably performed piece of cinema. Cronenberg, known primarily for his horror movies, again tackles a film that deals with violent family drama, and the question of identity and masculinity. One of the central themes is addressed by tattoos. They are integral to those within the crime family, identifying who you are, not just within the crime organisation, but also as a person on the whole. But the tattoos are also plot devices that play an important part in key scenes.

The performances in the film are all fantastic. Naomi Watts’ performance as Anna is the audience’s door into the crime world, and she handles the role very well. In a film that deals with masculinity, it would be easy for her role to become secondary to the rest, but she brings a strength and vulnerability that is essential for the role. Armin Mueller-Stahl as the father figure and head of the mob family is also excellent, initially warm and fatherly, but hiding something darker and more dangerous. Vincent Cassel throws himself entirely at the role of Kirill. He’s a brilliant lunatic. It’s a difficult role, that of an alcoholic and closet homosexual, and it would too easy for an actor to fall into cliché, but Cassel is a good actor and avoids these traps.



However, the outstanding performance is from Viggo Mortensen. Mortensen’s known for immersing himself completely in his roles, and it’s clear from this performance he’s done it again. Nikolai is an incredibly complex character, and Mortensen is able to portray all the layers of this character, the darkness, the cynicism and the ability for violence without remorse, without having to overplay the character. Nikolai moves very methodically but with a lot of restraint. It’s to Mortensen’s credit that he carries across all the complexities of the character without overacting.

As mentioned, Cronenberg is known for his horror movies. And while both A History Of Violence and Eastern Promises are thrillers, they deal with horrors men can visit on each other. The film is sporadically violent, and very graphic when the violence appears. But it’s never gratuitous. It moves at a very deliberate and steady pace, gradually drawing you into the violent world of the gangsters. A film that deals with identity, masculinity, and twisted morality, it’s a film populated by monsters with human faces. Cronenberg has delivered the perfect companion piece for A History Of Violence. Unfortunately, like his previous film, Eastern Promises more than likely won’t do well come awards time. However, it’s a brilliantly crafted, superbly performed thriller, and probably the best of the year so far.


9/10