On The Road - The Movie

Saw it in Edinburgh on Sunday. The Brazillian Director Walter Salles made this adaptation drawing on a documentary about Kerouac’s original cross country odyssey with Neal Cassady, immortalised in print as ‘Dean Moriarty’.
Meticulous on period details, he faithfully depicts the impact of the trip on the young men – and their women, albeit to a lesser extent – rebelling against the conservatism of their parents’ generation. In my opinion it's as good an adaptation as you can hope for, for a book that is essentially unfilmable. Salles also directed The Motorcycle Diaries and it shows. Kerouac’s sing-song voice speaks of “mad ones” who “burn, burn, burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars”.  Sex, jazz and Benzedrine are all present and correct as you would expect. It's not a bad film but the filmic narrative can only reproduce the heady beat rhetoric of Kerouac up to a point. 
Sam Riley is fine as Sal. Kristen Stewart is also credible as Marylou, mostly keeping her top on with one eye on more contracts in 'Twilight'. The old hands Mortensen and Buscemi steal every scene they are in of course. Downside - lack of plot just like the book. Upside - a glorious soundtrack and visual landscapes. I recommend it. My wife hated it.