Cast

Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall, Guy Pearce, Molly Parker

awards

San Diego Film Critics Society Awards 2009 – best cinematography

Film description

The Road is a post-apocalyptic vision of a father and son wading through barren and dying world of ash and dust-covered city ruins, empty roads, and junk filled highways while avoiding marauders scavenging for anything to help them survive, including human flesh. Humans are akin to animals in a state of constant danger under an ashen sky, where each day is grayer than the one before and sunshine is only a pale memory.

Mutants and zombies tend to rule the cinematic post-catastrophe world of late, while in The Road that world is disturbingly familiar. Instead of the studded leather from Mad Max or the latex suits of Resident Evil, we have torn down jackets, boots with holes wrapped in rags and the ubiquitous shopping cart to ferry found belongings. This adaptation of Cormack McCarthy’s novel maintains the book’s spare realistic style without zealous special effects, focusing on the story of survival in inhuman conditions. The film’s emotional tension is the perfectly played father-son relationship between two souls lost in this withered world clinging strongly to each other. The pale color palettes, shot partially in areas ravaged by hurricane Katrina, and the dark music of Nick Cave, assure the film’s lasting impression.

Grzegorz Kurek