21st Birthday, 18/01/89

Spent in a sybaritic splendour in the rural village whereby I visited relatives close by and ventured to the city with my lady, parents and younger sister following numerous shops we went to watch a film. The Road was our chosen film from a list of mediocre alternatives and whilst my family didn't enjoy it, I found it intriguing whilst foreshadowed by the original context. The novel that set the post-apocalyptic trend and much like The Human Stain by Philip Roth also Cormac McCarthy’s own No Country for Old Men: great modern-era American novelists in an unforgiving perceptive of the world.

In the screenplay, it's a different story as with Coleman Silk in The Human Stain as reading the book you couldn’t forgive him for his heartless rejection of his mother but his ideals were refreshing whereas on screen he is shown to be a pretentious individual similar to the father in The Road is shown to be a barbaric individual- killing in order to survive, forcing an African-American to take off the clothes he stole from them all deeply shocking cinematic devices not as the book reflects with his sole intention to find the ocean with his son's best interests at heart.

Much is down to the casting; Coleman Silk wasn't imagined to look like Anthony Hopkins (who played him in the 2003 film) and even now as my lady is covering the tale for her American Literature module next semester thus allowed me to re-read it, he doesn’t fit. Certainly, he isn’t American nor does he withhold the mannerisms that the author attempted to portray yet the film used another actor for his past in Wentworth Miller who did an admirable job. And in The Road, Viggo Mortensen did well to portray Man nevertheless out-performed by the wonderful newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee whilst critics slam it's lack of action, the long walks and thought provoking notions such as the gun down throat of his son as suicide may be the only way out- this is a blinkered view of those who probably haven't experienced such love from their parents that'll defy their own contempt.

Looking at the review here from the Guardian: the compelling tale laid by McCarthy is blindly obvious but the highly elevated positioning of Hillcoat's adaption isn't as the book is far greater in character development, plot-lines and intensity whilst saying that, the film will generally create Oscar hysteria and fully deservedly so too. If you haven't already seen it, I'd recommend you read the book instead.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/sep/03/the-road-adaptation-cormac-mccarthy