Hi, well that's good news. If it's going to play in Seattle on Mar 22, then perhaps it'll make it out here to Chicago as well.
Then, I'm not sure one could make a judgement of whether the movie "resonates" with today's young people if it's ONLY BEEN SHOWN IN TWO (or THREE) theaters in New York and Los Angeles. I lived in Los Angeles for 8 years, that would not necessarily be the best place for a film like this to "catch on." New York may be better, but COME ON. ONLY NEW YORK? Further, did they at least e-mail the "Occupy Wall Street" folks? (after all, those young people, "under the radar" did help re-elect Barrack Obama).
Now to be sure, UNLESS ONE READ KEROUAC'S BOOK beforehand, the film COULD BE VERY DISORIENTING. That would be because though the story (semi-autobiographical) is set in the late 1940s (in the years after WW II and before Korea) MANY OF THE CHARACTERS BEHAVE AS IF THEY LIVED TODAY.
I wish to tell ANYONE who reads this that Kerouac's BOOK REALLY WAS JUST LIKE THAT.
Yes Dean Moriarty (based on the real person Neal Cassidy) played in the film by Garrett Hedlund was both sexually agnostic ("bi") and confident. Marilou (Kristen Stewart's character) was a randy late teenager. Keruoac did know Allen Ginsberg (Carlo Marx in the story played by Tom Sturridge in the film). And Allen Ginsberg was gay. And Camille (Kirsten Dunst's character is AGAIN as portrayed in the book, and again existed as a real person).
So even if the story feels at times almost like a "Will and Grace" episode THIS REALLY WAS THE WAY KERUOAC FIRST WROTE HIS MANUSCRIPT BACK IN 1951 (!!!!).
Further, there are OTHER ASPECTS of ON THE ROAD that feel like they're straight out of a story by John Steinbeck or Ernest Hemmingway. AGAIN, THAT'S EXACTLY LIKE KEROUAC'S BOOK WAS:
This story, On the Road, provides us a bridge LIKE NO OTHER between the pre-WW II world of John Steinbeck/Ernest Hemmingway and TODAY'S WORLD of "Will and Grace" and "Modern Family"
PERHAPS and with great difficulty, one COULD seek to explain HOW we as a culture moved from "Of Mice and Men" and "Cannery Row" to today's world, but if KERUOAC'S BOOK EXISTS IN OUR UNIVERSE THEN IT IS _A STRAIGHT LINE_.
That ALONE, for its SELF-EVIDENT capacity of explaining how our culture made that jump from Steinbeck to today, ON THE ROAD is IMPORTANT.
Anyway, I honestly do hope that this film does finally get released (outside of NYC and LA) in the United States, because it will help MILLIONS OF AMERICANS (young and old) understand WHO WE ARE and HOW WE BECAME WHO WE ARE. Otherwise, our culture will continue to exist with an ENORMOUS GAPING HOLE IN IT existing from the late 1940s through until the 1960s.
reply
share
DCI77
12 years ago
>>This story, On the Road, provides us a bridge LIKE NO OTHER between the pre-WW II world of John Steinbeck/Ernest Hemmingway and TODAY'S WORLD of "Will and Grace" and "Modern Family"
You're right - we became spoiled, "as long as it makes you happy" self entitled brats who sucks on the tit of the government for milk. It kinda reminds of Kerouac and Ginsberg in their time of wandering.
>> understand WHO WE ARE and HOW WE BECAME WHO WE ARE. Otherwise, our culture will continue to exist with an ENORMOUS GAPING HOLE IN IT existing from the late 1940s through until the 1960s.
Gosh, I know, right? America is missing the bridge that's "LIKE NO OTHER." Whatever shall this country do?
2013 Most Anticipated - Stoker, The Spectacular Now, Frances Ha
reply
share