Dec 5, 2009

The Road

I awoke this morning with a pounding headache that lasted most of the day. After going to the wrong theater, paying for parking, and trying to buy a ticket for a movie that wasn't playing at Edward's, I managed to arrive at the River Oaks Theater shortly after the movie started. I was immediately struck by the darkness of the theater, because I couldn't see well enough to figure out where Matt was sitting. I don't think I have ever seen a movie filmed in color that felt more like black and white. Each frame of The Road is bathed in stark greys and blacks. It was perfectly suited to the subject matter, a post apocalyptic tale of a father and son traveling through a treacherous world where the rule is not simply kill or be killed, it is kill or be raped and eaten.

Matt read the book by Cormac McCarthy and expressed surprise that the movie was not more graphically violent. I felt relief as I watched the film, because there could have been much more gore and torture on the screen. There was certainly enough shown to to make what was left to your imagination gruesome and terrifying. I recognize how good this film is, but it is relegated to my list of films that are one offs. I don't regret seeing it, but it was so emotionally wrenching, I never want to watch it again.

No comments: