The trailer for the film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's most recent novel, The Road, was released on itunes today, which you can watch by clicking here. I really enjoyed the novel, and was looking forward to the movie (I thought casting Viggo Mortenson as the father seemed like a great choice--just what I imagined), even though I was curious how watchable it would be, since the novel is pretty surreal at times (for instance, neither the father nor the boy were ever named) and is punctuated by images of grisly (and, I have to say, fascinating) violence.
After watching the trailer, some of my enthusiasm has diminished. It looks like the role of the mother (being played by Charlize Theron) has been expanded way beyond what it was in the book (and if you read the novel you know why her role was limited), probably because the film-makers wanted to give the movie more of a narrative, which I think will come at the expense of a vital aspect of the novel.
It still looks like the movie is following the book fairly closely (most of the scenes in the trailer were immediately recognizable)-- my worry, specifically, is that what made the book so fantastic was the sort of hazy, dream-like atmosphere. I think that the quest to make The Road approachable to a wider audience might end up turning it into another Children of Men--especially with the overdone news clips, which to be honest, I used to love, and now think is becoming extremely annoying (and evidence of laziness on the part of film-makers).
I really liked Children of Men. (In general, I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic lit. I even liked I Am Legend. ) But The Road should be something different.
So. Still interested in the movie, but now I'm in doubt that the film-making will be able to do justice to (what I thought) was a unique take on a genre where new ground is difficult to break.
I'm curious what others think.
4 comments:
Thanks for the link, i just finished watching it.
I also really enjoyed the novel and have been looking forward to this films release for some time now. I was curious as to how they'd keep the film as minimalist as i felt the book was most of the time. From the trailer, it doesn't look like minimalism was a priority for the filmmakers.
I also don't think an expanded role of the mother is a good thing. i loved the father and son vs. world idea.
One more thing, at least in my head I always imagined the setting of the story to be very dark, cold and overcast, almost to the point of being the reality of their "new world." i suppose the trailer seemed a little "bright" for me. I guess though that any movie translation of a book will skew the faces, colors, etc you had created on your own.
we'll see. maybe this is a movie we can get together to see? i'll be in touch.
Marc--
Minimalist is a good word to describe the novel. I also agree with you about the colors, you sort of get a sense of an atmosphere of ash over everything (maybe that's explicitly stated, I don't know), which I actually thought was happening in the movie in the first image shown (the city), but the outside scenes, all I can think is the forest scenes in Children of Men. Too bright.
I wonder how much we're actually going to get to see in the basement of the house. This movie better be rated R.
If it isn't R (creepy basement creepy basement), and the mother's role really has been expanded, we're looking at a potential epic disappointment.
You don't think they would have possibly adapted the role of the mother after signing a big name to play the part do you? Just wondering IF they did (and here's to hoping they didn't), why McCarthy would let that happen.
i don't think anything viggo morreson is in could possibly be bad :)
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