How does John Hillcoat’s film of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road measure up?
From the start, director John Hillcoat has a lot to contend with.
In the book, McCarthy adopts an unadorned, straightforward form of prose that gleams with a Biblical austerity.
The stark photography, with its knotted overpasses and ghostly towns, will stick with you.
In motion, however,The Roadfeels jagged, uneven and overloaded.
Most of the books allegorical, poetic aspects are crystallised into a simpler narrative about the father and son.
Such a scene is powerful and distinct, but it is not enough to makeThe Roada must-see.
This is not to say that Hillcoats work is a bad film.
It is certainly affecting and accomplished, and those unfamiliar with the source material will still be moved.
And so, it is hard to avoid the sense that it neednt have been made at all.
Rating:
3 out of 5
