RM Movie Club #5: The Road

[E.H. Ruddock]

For my movie, I pick The Road. One of my favorite books ever and the translation to the screen was really well done. During these desperate COVID times, this is a good film to help us explore the human condition in the most extreme of circumstances. Do we move on in our new world blindly? Or try to hold on to the past while attempting to just survive? Or decide not to go on at all? What extreme practices will we adopt in this new world? I look forward to discussing this movie with many of you.



It's apparently available for free on Pluto TV but I haven't confirmed. I'm going to bed

Previous picks
RM Movie Club #1: Once Upon a Time in Shanghai
RM Movie Club #2: Quiz Show
RM Movie Club #3: American Movie
RM Movie Club #4: Once We Were Warriors

[BurtReynolds]

I just rewatched it about a month ago. I'm not doing it again!

[The Argonaut]

Wow, what an exciting day. I really love the book, I've read it twice. I've only ever seen the movie once all the way through, but I do often feel pulled to re-visit it again. The reason I've resisted that pull is because I didn't want to crowd out the book's space in my head. Perhaps this is faulty logic.
Regardless, I'm excited to revisit this one now.

[Monkey_Driven]

I've only seen this once. It still haunts me.

[Simple Torture]

HOW DID I MISS THIS THREAD

[tragabigzanda]

Loved the book. Watched the movie and it just didn't work for me. Not sure if it was the addition of the marriage flashbacks or what...Something about the majesty of the book just didn't translate for me. The movie just felt cold.

[The Argonaut]

I re-watched the movie earlier this week. I like the marriage flashbacks OK enough. I think one of the most compelling scenes is the one where Charlize Theron is taking off her winter clothes and walking into the night to die while Viggo begs her to stay. Unfortunately, it is immediately undercut by a heavy-handed voice-over narration that tells us something about how "she died somewhere in the dark, blah blah, there is no other tale to tell." Totally unnecessary, and rather annoying. The voice-overs were universally terrible, overly flowerly, coming across as trying too hard to communicate that this is an important movie based on a book by a literary icon.

Outside of the voice-overs, I don't have a ton of specific complaints, but I also don't have much that sticks in my head or really engaged me. Overall, there are some good bits and images, but I don't think this movie is a success. There are many other post-apocalyptic movies that I prefer.

[tragabigzanda]

I don't even remember the voiceover, but that sounds awful

[BurtReynolds]

I thought the flashbacks were a good addition, but yeah the voiceover wasn't great. I have read the book.

[The Argonaut]

I don't even remember the voiceover, but that sounds awful