3/14/13

ON THE ROAD

the AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE had a screening last night of ON THE ROAD, the long time coming film based on the legendary book of the same name by JACK KEROUAC.

i found the film visually beautiful capturing the heartlands of america as it was during the late 40s. 
cinematographer eric gautier created a moving dreamscape~ romantic & melancholic.
the acting sometimes left allot more to be desired. garrett hedlund as dean moriarty, (based on neal cassady)although very pleasant to look at comes off as posturing thru much of the film. i appreciate his "animal magnetism," but kept seeing holes in his performance. 
you can see a contemporary actor doing his damnedest to act out a legendary anti-hero. 

the same goes for sam riley as sal paradise, (based on jack kerouac?) and amy adams as jane, (based on joan vollmer).  joan vollmer was william burroughs's wife whom he later shot in the head while playing~ "william tell.

 on the other hand~ these actors fare better than kristien stewart's pathetic portrayal of marylou. she looks absolutely beautiful, but when she opens her mouth, it's all over. 
when are casting directors going to learn this girl cannot act?!. tom sturridge as carlo marx, (based on allen ginsberg) is just plain ridiculous, but i guess i'm somewhat prejudiced because i always found ginsberg ridiculous anyway. 

the saving graces in this vehicle are viggo mortensen as old bull lee, (based on william burroughs). he gets the voice and mannerisms down pat, but director walter salles takes creative license and flatters the late burroughs tremendously by casting heartthrob viggo. let's face it, burroughs was a troll.


the best performance hands down is by steve busemi as "tall thin salesman." although playing a very minor role he lights up the screen, (and his fellow actors) the second he appears as a closeted man with whiskey. they go back to their dole-drum roles after his last scene. 

The story is based on the years Kerouac spent traveling the United States in the late 1940s with his friend Neal Cassady and several other figures who would go on to fame in their own right, including William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg.

A film adaptation of On the Road had been in the works for years. In 1957, Jack Kerouac wrote a one-page letter to actor Marlon Brando, suggesting that he play Dean Moriarty while Kerouac would portray Sal Paradise. In the letter, Kerouac envisioned the film to be shot "with the camera on the front seat of the car showing the road (day and night) unwinding into the windshield, as Sal and Dean yak." Brando never responded to the letter, and later on Warner Bros. offered $110,000 for the rights to Kerouac's book but his agent, Sterling Lord, declined it. 
Lord hoped for $150,000 from Paramount Pictures, which wanted to cast Brando in the film. The deal did not occur and Kerouac was angered that his agent asked for too much money.
Filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola bought the rights in 1979. Over the years, he hired several screenwriters to adapt the book into a film, including Michael Herr and Barry Gifford, only for Coppola to write his own draft with son Roman.  In 1995, the filmmaker planned to shoot on black-and-white 16mm film and held auditions with poet Allen Ginsberg in attendance but the project fell through.  Several years later he tried again with Ethan Hawke and Brad Pitt to play Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty respectively, but this project also failed to work. In 2001, Coppola hired novelist Russell Banks to write the script and planned to make the film with Joel Schumacher directing and starring Billy Crudup as Sal Paradise and Colin Farrell as Dean Moriarty, but this incarnation of the project was shelved as well.  Gus Van Sant also expressed interest in making the film. Now this.
All in all, the lives of kerouac & cassady, and subsequent books written by kerouac have become, (for better or worst) american literature lore, so to create a film about something every american student knows something about it's a huge challenge. like many book to film adaptations On The Road fails.
oh btw... if this film is supposed to depict an accurate portrayal of neal cassady... although sexy and somewhat natural.. he is a dick.. and i don't mean that in a good way. 
i also have a hard time with portrayals of cassady & kerouac as these archetypes of the free~spirited american man. kerouac, cassady, ginsberg, burroughs et al ~ they all come off as various stages of  closeted gay men.
thanks to andrew crane@ american cinematheque
posted by rick castro~ antebellumblog editor

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