Word: sonly
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...grand tradition of Hollywood multigenerational weepies, the sins of the fathers reverberate in their offspring. In 1994, on the set of the film Mateo was shooting with Lena, Ernesto's son was compiling a making-of featurette that was really a documentation of the director-actress tryst. In 2008, Ernesto Jr. is still skulking around, hoping - or threatening - to unearth bitter old truths. Also, Mateo's housekeeper and longtime friend has a son, sweet and smart, who assists Mateo. We'll learn that every supporting character is there for a reason...
...monochromatic palette: blood and fire, both of which are shot in horribly sharp relief. But Hillcoat and Aguirresarobe refuse to let their limited color range get in the way of shooting a strikingly desolate film, filled with a series of images that seem destined to become iconic. Father and son stumble down a warped concrete road, shattered telephone poles leaning ominously over them; Mortensen pushes a shopping cart through a marsh, silhouetted by guttering flames. On this “Road,” destruction and barrenness take on a peculiar sublimity...
...Road” is the story of a nameless father (Mortensen) and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) traveling across the devastated remains of an American continent that has experienced a disaster—of unknown origin—that wiped out the vast majority of the population. Endlessly searching for food and hunted by bands of cannibals, the two make their way toward the coast, where the father believes they may find safety and other “good” people...
...going anywhere. But Hillcoat has created a road narrative without the ever-present forward motion that usually defines it. Instead, “The Road” is composed of fleeting moments, vignettes that slowly coalesce into a fuller picture of the characters and their experiences. Father and son run from bandits, enjoy an unopened, still-carbonated Coca-Cola, and eat canned fruit with an elderly fellow traveler, all the while theoretically moving toward the coast. The structure of the film doesn’t so much negate that motion as render it irrelevant...
...seemingly plotless meandering, a single moment of suicidal violence shocks the audience out of their fugue and puts them on the edge of their seats for the remainder of the film. “The Road” employs a similar effect; following a span of wandering, father and son come upon a disconcertingly civilized-looking house, which they are drawn to investigate. Readers of the book know exactly what's coming, which only makes it worse. Another memorable scene features Michael K. Williams, best known as Omar from “The Wire.” With...