"The Road" (2009) Directed by John Hillcoat

John Hillcoat’s end of the world Father and Son tale.

“The clock’s stopped at 1:17”.

Based on the world renowned novel of the same name by Cormac McCarthy and with a screenplay from Joe Penhall, this was the first Hillcoat film not penned either by himself or Nick Cave. John Hillcoat also followed up one classic film with another and this audience splitting classic. Too maudlin for some, downright depressing for others, or an uplifting and heart warming tale of the human spirit? Pick your poison!

With a cast of only 16 credited roles and a further 10 uncredited roles, this near two hour film follows the journey of one man and his son across a post apocalypse United States of America. From a richly coloured beginning of an idyllic life, we are immediately transported to a monochrome, desaturated world of despair and destruction. With a melancholic narration from “Man” (Viggo Mortensen) it’s clearly established the earth is dying, and quickly, and with a continuing narration we see and hear the destruction unfold as earthquakes shake the earth, amid thunder claps and lightening strikes. Sheltering with his “Boy” (Kodi Smit-McPhee) and sleeping rough, the brightly coloured beginning has been completely taken over by a dank, dark and dirty environment. Existing only on scraps of food, both Man and Boy push a shopping trolley full of their remaining deeply personal belongings through a bleak, wide open and seemingly destroyed world.

The above opening paragraphs are taken from my original spoiler free review of "The Road" penned and published nearly a decade ago, transferred to my Medium blog site on 29th January 2023 and which can also be read in full and for free via my Substack blog site and the link immediately below:

https://ramblingmusings666.substack.com/p/the-road-2009-9025dcd10434

This spoiler free review is also integral to my 7 volumes of "essential film reviews collection". Only available currently in e-book form, each exhaustive volume of spoiler free film reviews is £4.99 however, should you have an Amazon Kindle "Unlimited" package, you can read each and every volume for free:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C4HZSTTH?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tukn

https://www.patreon.com/TheBlackfordBookClub
https://www.paypal.me/TheBlackfordBookClub
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