On The Road
???
To create a film adaptation of any popular work of literature is to risk controversial feedback; to create a film adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s unprecedented and generation-defining novel is to risk complete failure. Though Walter Salles’ “On The Road” doesn’t quite do justice to Kerouac’s work of art, it comes as close as is probably possible and proves to be a kind of work of art in itself.
Visually speaking, “On The Road” is richly beautiful. As Sal Paradise (Sam Riley) and Dean Moriarty (Garrett Hedlund), based on real-life Jack Kerouac and Neal Cassady, journey across the United States, the audience is made privy to the views of the roadways and landscapes of the 1940s and ‘50s. The feeling of escaping the idiocies of society by taking to the freedom-inducing highway is joyfully almost tangible — for two hours, we are all on the road.
At first, the lives of the Beat Generation are exhilarating to watch. Driving, having sex, drinking, doing drugs, stealing, dancing, thinking — it all looks and seems great. But, it gets old. The film ends up feeling overly excessive just as the characters’ wild lifestyles grow nauseatingly stale.
Though “On The Road” is a largely misogynistic story (the women must experience the harshness of reality in order to enable the men’s carefree lives), the film’s actresses exude talent that surpasses many of the male actors’. Amy Adams clearly portrays an addicted Jane, while Kristen Dunst as Camille shows the painful woes of staying at home and mothering Dean’s baby while he continues to live a life on the road. Kristen Stewart escapes from her boring role as soft-spoken Bella Swan and excellently plays a sexual and vivacious Marylou.
“On The Road” lacks Kerouac’s exquisite language, but not his overall motives. The story is a difficult one to adapt to film — Kerouac himself probably wouldn’t be a fan of the idea of adaptation. But Salles stays as true to the novel as possible. Neither lucid nor constantly agreeable, “On The Road” deservedly evokes deep contemplation.
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
