The nutshell people, is this: the screenwriter, director and producer all fail to grasp the existential nature of Kerouac's writing which was, and still is, its whole point.
To get the novel you need to blur your focus slightly, think about the more esoteric and the context of the time of when it was written. Kerouac put forth his own personal spiritual reality and also that of the spiritual connection between himself and other characters without implying how he, or the reader, should be thinking or feeling which leaves the reader resonating with philosophical questions. Does anything mean anything? Does loving someone who doesn't return that love mean anything? What is love? Are we just pawns in a greater spiritual reality? Should we care? If so, why?
The book and these questions were part of a spark that started a shift towards youthful self-consciousness, greater questioning of western life and human realities that has endured to the present day.
This aspect of Kerouac's work is the quintessential element his admirers praise and respect him for and this movie fails completely to illustrate this most important part. In fact it seems as though it was not even attempted or omitted on purpose.
The movie also fails to illustrate the broader context of the time it was written as well: the concept of piercing through the two dimensional American cultural reality of the time and breaking through into a freer space, rebelling against the rules society has laid down for you and in turn sparking thoughts in people's minds of how the future could be one where minds were more open, standards were questioned and prejudices overcome. This same shift in thinking and questioning contemporaneous norms added fuel to the fires of the Civil Rights Movement and the Anti- War Movement. Kerouac was someone who helped spark a wave that reached its peak in the late 60s over a decade after the publishing of On The Road but disappointingly you will get none of this from the movie.
Instead, this movie stands for everything the book doesn't; a dressed up, soulless vacuum of a period piece that doesn't really go anywhere with any discernible purpose. It alienates the viewer within the first half dozen scenes instead of drawing them in with that friendly 'best- buddy-you-never-had' Kerouac familiarity.
Many people new to the Beats and to Kerouac will leave this movie feeling that they just don't get what all the fuss was about and that's because this movie goes nowhere near doing justice to either of these institutions.
For Kerouac 'true believers' (of which I am obviously one) who respect the importance of his work, this movie will be an affront as it is brought to the screen by people who were not capable of representing him or the work on screen.
For road trip fans this movie will hit most of the right buttons and therefore there will be some positive reviews as you see here.
My feeling is that regardless of previous achievements and my overwhelming respect for producer and director, the makers of this film should be ashamed of themselves in bringing this movie to the screen without capturing the soul of the book and the man who wrote it. You can only assume that they didn't get that aspect or chose to leave it out because it was too hard to realise. However, I simply cannot believe Coppola viewed this film in its entirety prior to release and Salles seems to have over-estimated his ability to turn this seminal, universal masterpiece into a movie. It simply just isn't worthy.
To get the novel you need to blur your focus slightly, think about the more esoteric and the context of the time of when it was written. Kerouac put forth his own personal spiritual reality and also that of the spiritual connection between himself and other characters without implying how he, or the reader, should be thinking or feeling which leaves the reader resonating with philosophical questions. Does anything mean anything? Does loving someone who doesn't return that love mean anything? What is love? Are we just pawns in a greater spiritual reality? Should we care? If so, why?
The book and these questions were part of a spark that started a shift towards youthful self-consciousness, greater questioning of western life and human realities that has endured to the present day.
This aspect of Kerouac's work is the quintessential element his admirers praise and respect him for and this movie fails completely to illustrate this most important part. In fact it seems as though it was not even attempted or omitted on purpose.
The movie also fails to illustrate the broader context of the time it was written as well: the concept of piercing through the two dimensional American cultural reality of the time and breaking through into a freer space, rebelling against the rules society has laid down for you and in turn sparking thoughts in people's minds of how the future could be one where minds were more open, standards were questioned and prejudices overcome. This same shift in thinking and questioning contemporaneous norms added fuel to the fires of the Civil Rights Movement and the Anti- War Movement. Kerouac was someone who helped spark a wave that reached its peak in the late 60s over a decade after the publishing of On The Road but disappointingly you will get none of this from the movie.
Instead, this movie stands for everything the book doesn't; a dressed up, soulless vacuum of a period piece that doesn't really go anywhere with any discernible purpose. It alienates the viewer within the first half dozen scenes instead of drawing them in with that friendly 'best- buddy-you-never-had' Kerouac familiarity.
Many people new to the Beats and to Kerouac will leave this movie feeling that they just don't get what all the fuss was about and that's because this movie goes nowhere near doing justice to either of these institutions.
For Kerouac 'true believers' (of which I am obviously one) who respect the importance of his work, this movie will be an affront as it is brought to the screen by people who were not capable of representing him or the work on screen.
For road trip fans this movie will hit most of the right buttons and therefore there will be some positive reviews as you see here.
My feeling is that regardless of previous achievements and my overwhelming respect for producer and director, the makers of this film should be ashamed of themselves in bringing this movie to the screen without capturing the soul of the book and the man who wrote it. You can only assume that they didn't get that aspect or chose to leave it out because it was too hard to realise. However, I simply cannot believe Coppola viewed this film in its entirety prior to release and Salles seems to have over-estimated his ability to turn this seminal, universal masterpiece into a movie. It simply just isn't worthy.