Road, Movie

ROAD, MOVIE (2009) - Sept. 19, 2009
A surprisingly boring film about a young man who decides to take his uncle's truck, a beat up old truck from the '40s that's been outfitted as a traveling movie theatre, and drive it across India's desert. He picks up some quirky characters along the way. There are so many problems with this film I don't even know where to start. It's visually not compelling at all, as the protagonist quickly leaves the city and spends the rest of the film driving across the barren desert. The main character was completely bland and not even nearly interesting enough to carry the film. The two main supporting characters are ridiculously quirky and are never developed beyond their initial quirkiness. There's a subplot about mobster-controlled water wells that feels out of place and goes absolutely nowhere. Blech. The official TIFF guide called this the "new Cinema Paradiso," which as far as I'm concerned is a crime. *1/2