Film Review: On The Road

25th November 2012

It was 1957 when Jack Kerouac’s novel On The Road was first published. Since then, probably every individual who has ever had the urge to leave all their present life behind and go out there to the unknown, has read the book. It has inspired people since the year it was released and seems like its influence is strong to this day.

No good story stays on the paper forever and this year director Walter Salles finally brought the great novel to the big screens. Sam Riley (Control) playing Sal Paradise, the narrator of the story and Garrett Hedlund (Eragon, Thron) in the role of his carefree, adventurous friend Dean Moriarty. Some of the bigger names in the cast list are Kristen Stewart (The Twilight Saga) who plays Dean Moriarty’s wife and lover Marylou and Kristen Dunst (Melancholia) who is in the role of Dean’s next wife Camille.

The story itself is very simple – young struggling writer Sal Paradise meets Dean and his woman Marylou. Together they go travelling through the States, meeting many people on the road who influence the trip in their own way. The book is based on true events and shows Jack Kerouac’s life in the years of 1947-1950, although in the book he gave all the main characters pseudonyms. The most interesting and vivid character is Dean Mariarty, who urges Sal to enjoy life to the fullest and in real life probably inspired Jack Kerouac the most to finally put all his experiences on the road into a book.

It’s always a real challenge to turn a successful and loved book into a movie. And of course, there will always be people who say the book is better than the film and those who declare the opposite. But me, having seen the movie and read the book few years ago think that what matters with this story is the feeling that comes with it, not the fact that every little detail in the book would also be in the movie.

I remember reading the novel in my room meanwhile travelling to Denver, Colorado, San Fransisco and Mexico in my head – whatever the characters were doing in the book, I was doing it with them. Jack Kerouac managed to create that urge in me for making my life a piece of art. To travel, be reckless, make mistakes, to enjoy every little piece of the day you get and not worry about tomorrow. And back then when reading it, I really did change my life and got into some interesting adventures, always having the book in the back of my head. And I enjoyed the time a lot.

But as it always happens, as the years go by, you tend to forget the stories that you’ve read long time ago and become more what you see and do every day. Which in my case, is a life full of routine and rules. Going to work in the morning, you don’t think of the book that used to urge you to live to the fullest, instead you think of the next morning coffee and your lousy boss.

But seeing the movie and revisiting Mexico, Denver, San Fransisco and New York all over again with the characters that changed me so much back then did it once again. Walter Salles managed to create the same feeling in me using Kerouac’s story that the book created years ago. The 1940’s soundtrack, the atmosphere, even the voice of Sam Riley was exactly what I imagined it to be when I read the book. And now, I was seeing it all in front of my eyes not only in my head.

Garrett Hedlund, Kristen Stewart and Sam Riley is basically the trio of the movie and they deliver their characters essence really well. Tom Sturridge is also doing a great job with playing the slightly gay troubled writer friend. Kristen Dunst is playing Dean’s second wife, and although I have never liked her, I gotta give her credit for playing the role pretty well. Kristen Stewart, who is always criticized for looking emotionless and dull, takes her acting to a new level. She is dancing, laughing, crying and screaming and looks pretty good doing it. A little casting suprise comes from Steve Buscemi (Reservoir Dogs, Hotel Transylvania) who has a very small but quite important role and as in his case, always interesting.

Whatever your reason for watching this movie might be, be ready to enjoy the ride. It will definitely offer you something new somehow. Whether it inspires you to go on a the road yourself and check out the unknown or you just wanted to take a look on topless Kristen Stewart (which, by the way, will be a little bit disappointing), as long as you stop comparing every scene to the book and Kristen to the Twilight Saga, it will be great. Otherwise don’t even be bothered. You will be very frustrated.

There is no point of comparing the movie to the book, because a film will always be a little different from the writing. But I think that the atmosphere and the point of the story that Kerouac told the world last century is shown to the people in the same way this century. You just gotta let yourself loose and enjoy the ride. If you manage to do that, it’s one helluva nice ride.

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