REVIEW: Adaption of ‘On the Road’ is an admirable effort

REVIEW: Adaption of ‘On the Road’ is an admirable effort

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars ...”

So wrote Jack Kerouac in “On the Road,” and now you have experienced the soul of his book to a greater degree than you will if you go see Walter Salles’ adaptation of a story that was meant to be read, not watched.

That being the case, Salles has made an admirable effort, which â€" while no roman candle â€" can be appreciated for its honest ambitions.

Unsurprisingly, few of the actors are able to capture the organic energy of Kerouac’s classic Beat portrait. Some, like Tom Sturridge as poet Carlo Marx (i.e., Allen Ginsberg), come off as embarrassing impressions. Others, like Kristen Stewart’s free-floating teen Marylou, are the very definition of commonplace.

Though endearing, Sam Riley tries too hard to become wide-eyed writer Sal Paradise, Kerouac’s alter ego. But a fantastically charismatic Garrett Hedlund grounds the movie with what should be the most slippery character to portray: iconic, nomadic Dean Moriarty (the fictional version of Neal Cassady).

Viggo Mortensen makes an amusingly off-kilter mentor out of Old Bull Lee (based on William Burroughs), while Kirsten Dunst’s Camille (Carolyn Cassady) poignantly reflects the second-class status of women in the Beat Generation. Each of them represent stops on Sal’s trips across the country, as he rejects the America he knows and gets to know the America Dean has dug up.

The movie’s visual palette is gorgeous, with Eric Gautier’s atmospheric camerawork signifying the book’s parallels of rootlessness and discovery, solitude and solidarity. The late-1940s period details, representing both urban and rural postwar America, are also well-considered and feel authentic.

So what we have here is a respectable attempt to adapt a book whose ecstatic rhythms are most likely unadaptable. But at the very least, perhaps it will inspire some to read Kerouac for themselves. To quote the author once more, “The best teacher is experience and not through someone’s distorted point of view.”