Animal Kingdom To Rack Up Awards (...In Australia)

Remember that one year (2001) when the list-happy AFI (American Film Institute) decided to compete with the Globes and the Oscars in year end prizes? No, that didn't last long. But there's another AFI, The Australian Film Institute, that has been around for a long time and is in no such danger of being a one-off. This year, they're all about the amazing family crime drama Animal Kingdom which they awarded with a record breaking 18 nominations. Sure, the film is in danger of being way overhyped for people who are coming to it late (which is just about everyone given the sorry state of international distribution for dramas of virtually any kind) but for those who can slough off the "omg" raves, I guarantee you'll think it at least an insinuating and well executed crime drama.

AFI Favorites with multiple nominations

Its main competition for the coveted prizes, if you go by nomination counts, is Bright Star (different eligibility calendar over there in Australia). I haven't really covered the Australian Awards before -- we lean on Glenn for that -- but since i've seen three of their Best Picture nominees this time around (the two leaders plus the aborigine musical Bran Nue Dae), why not?

Complete nomination list -- with more Oscar adjacent & actor related comments -- after the jump.




AFI Members’ Choice Award

• Animal Kingdom. Liz Watts.
• Beneath Hill 60. Bill Leimbach.
• Bran Nue Dae. Robyn Kershaw, Graeme Isaac.
• Bright Star. Jan Chapman, Caroline Hewitt.
• The Boys Are Back. Greg Brenman, Tim White.
• Tomorrow When The War Began. Andrew Mason, Michael Boughen.

SAMSUNG Mobile AFI Award for Best Film

• Animal Kingdom. Liz Watts.
• Beneath Hill 60. Bill Leimbach.
• Bran Nue Dae. Robyn Kershaw, Graeme Isaac.
• Bright Star. Jan Chapman, Caroline Hewitt.
• The Tree. Sue Taylor. Yaël Fogiel.
• Tomorrow When The War Began. Andrew Mason, Michael Boughen.

I'm actually not sure which of these categories Australian's consider their "Best Picture" but it's mostly the same competition anyway with only the widower drama The Boys Are Back and the widow drama The Tree working Swing position. Maybe Clive Owen  &  Charlotte Gainsbourg, who star as those grieving single parents, should've just gotten married to end their suffering: The Tree is Back!  

AFI Award for Best Direction

• Animal Kingdom. David Michôd.
• Beneath Hill 60. Jeremy Hartley Sims.
• Bright Star. Jane Campion.
• The Tree. Julie Bertuccelli.

Macquarie AFI Award for Best Original Screenplay

• Animal Kingdom. David Michôd.
• Beneath Hill 60. David Roach.
• Bright Star. Jane Campion.
• Daybreakers. Peter Spierig, Michael Spierig.

It'd be nice to see Michôd fighting for a spot with Oscar in the Original Screenplay category, but even with screeners going out so early, that could be a tough sell. But still, his is an unusually taut and smart script.

Macquarie AFI Award for Best Adapted Screenplay

• Bran Nue Dae. Reg Cribb, Rachel Perkins, Jimmy Chi.
• The Boys Are Back. Allan Cubitt.
• The Tree. Julie Bertuccelli.
• Tomorrow When The War Began. Stuart Beattie.

AFI Award for Best Cinematography

• Animal Kingdom. Adam Arkapaw.
• Beneath Hill 60. Toby    Oliver ACS.
• Bright Star. Greig Fraser.
• The Waiting City. Denson Baker ACS

With apologizes to the two films here I haven't seen I'll be disappointed if Greig Fraser loses this. I'm still mortified that he collected so few nominations and wins here in America. Bright Star is jaw-droppingly beautiful. It's a shame the way it was treated in last year's Oscar race. 

AFI Award for Best Editing

• Animal Kingdom. Luke Doolan.
• Beneath Hill 60. Dany    Cooper ASE.
• Bright Star. Alexandre de Franceschi ASE.
• Tomorrow When The War Began. Marcus D’Arcy.

AFI Award for Best Sound

• Animal Kingdom. Sam Petty, Rob Mackenzie, Philippe Decrausaz.
• Beneath Hill 60. Liam    Egan, Alicia Slusarski, Mark Cornish, Tony Murtagh.
• Bran Nue Dae. Andrew Neil, Steve Burgess, Peter Mills, Mario Vaccaro, Blaire Slater, David Bridie, Scott Montgomery.
• Tomorrow When The War Began. Andrew Plain, David Lee, Gethin Creagh, Robert Sullivan.

AFI Award for Best Original Music Score

• Animal Kingdom. Antony Partos, Sam Petty.
• Beneath Hill 60. Cezary Skubiszewski.
• Bran Nue Dae. Cezary   Skubiszewski, Jimmy Chi, Patrick Duttoo Bin Amat, Garry Gower, Michael Manolis Mavromatis, Stephen Pigram.
• Bright Star. Mark Bradshaw.

Bran Nue Dae does have fun musical numbers though typically the trailer doesn't really play that up.

AFI Award for Best Production Design

• Animal Kingdom. Jo Ford.
• Beneath Hill 60. Clayton Jauncey.
• Bright Star. Janet Patterson.
• Tomorrow When The War Began. Robert Webb, Michelle McGahey, Damien Drew, Bev Dunn.

AFI Award for Best Costume Design

• Animal Kingdom. Cappi Ireland.
• Beneath Hill 60. Ian Sparke, Wendy Cork.
• Bran Nue Dae. Margot Wilson.
• Bright Star. Janet Patterson

AFI Award for Best Lead Actor

• Brendan Cowell. Beneath Hill 60.
• James Frecheville. Animal Kingdom.
• Ben Mendelsohn. Animal Kingdom.
• Clive Owen. The Boys Are Back.

AFI Award for Best Lead Actress

• Abbie Cornish. Bright Star.
• Morgana Davies. The Tree.
• Charlotte Gainsbourg. The Tree.
• Jacki Weaver. Animal Kingdom.

I had assumed that Abbie Cornish could finally collect a trophy for Bright Star until I realized that Jacki Weaver was sharing this category. Though she is absolutely the centrifugal force in Animal Kingdom, she's not really the lead (that'd be Frecheville... and arguably Mendelsohn) and she's offscreen quite a lot and sometimes backgrounded within the scenes she is in.

AFI Award for Best Supporting Actor

• Joel Edgerton. Animal Kingdom.
• Guy Pearce. Animal Kingdom.
• Kodi Smit-McPhee. Matching Jack.
• Sullivan Stapleton. Animal Kingdom.

Tattoed and Tormented: Sullivan Stapleton in Animal Kingdom

I need to take this opportunity to thank the AFI for not nominated Geoffrey Rush who is typically so far over the top he's back down again in Bran Nue Dae. But I am surprised that they saw through his extravagant hamming given his Master Thespian rep. This is a war of cops vs. criminals from Animal Kingdom with wee Kodi as the potential beneficiary of vote splitting. My favorite of the three Kingdom men is Sullivan Stapleton as the tattooed and tightly-wound comparatively tender Craig. But not knowing anything about AFI politics or Australian favoritism, I'm assuming that Pearce is most likely to win given his stardom that he gets the film's big theme-speaking moment.

AFI Award for Best Supporting Actress

• Julia Blake. The Boys Are Back.
• Kerry Fox. Bright Star.
• Deborah Mailman. Bran Nue Dae.
• Laura Wheelwright. Animal Kingdom.

In case you're wondering, Wheelwright plays the teen girlfriend of Animal Kingdom's lead character. I'm pleased to see Fox given props for her subtle but very well modulated reactive mother role in Jane Campion's romantic biopic.

AFI INTERNATIONAL AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR

• Simon Baker. The Mentalist, Season 2. Nine Network
• Ryan Kwanten. True Blood, Season 3. Showcase
• Kodi Smit-McPhee. The Road
• Sam Worthington. Avatar

I haven't yet seen Season 3 but it's nice to see acclaim for Ryan Kwanten who is True Blood's secret weapon, if you ask me. He's just so funny. He offers up a very smart take on a very dim character. As for Kodi, I wrote extensively about The Road here.

AFI I International Award for Best Actress

• Toni Collette. United States of Tara, Season 2. ABC1
• Bojana Novakovic. Edge of Darkness
• Mia Wasikowska. Alice in Wonderland
• Naomi Watts. Mother and Child

Um. Ewwww. on the Wasikowska nomination. I think she's quite a good actress but I think she's quite ungood in that movie. Meanwhile: Go TONI!!!

AFI Young Actor Award

• Ashleigh Cummings. Tomorrow When The War Began
• Morgana Davies. The Tree
• James Frecheville. Animal Kingdom
• Harrison Gilbertson. Beneath Hill 60

AFI Visual Effects Award

• Daybreakers. Peter Spierig, Michael Spierig, Rangi Sutton, James Rogers, Randy Vellacott
• The Tree. Dave Morley, Felix Crawshaw, Claudia Lecaros, Tim Walker
• Tinglewood. Wil Manning
• Tomorrow When The War Began. Chris Godfrey, Sigi Eimutis, Dave Morley, Tony Cole

AFI AWARD FOR BEST CHILDREN’S TELEVISION DRAMA

• Dance Academy. Joanna Werner ABC
• Dead Gorgeous. Ewan Burnett, Margot McDonald. ABC
• Lockie Leonard. Kylie     Du Fresne. Nine Network
• My Place. Penny Chapman. ABC

AFI AWARD FOR BEST CHILDREN’S TELEVISION ANIMATION

• dirtgirlworld. Cate McQuillen. ABC
• Erky Perky. Kristine Klohk, Barbara Stephen, Tracy Lenon. Seven Network
• The Legend Of Enyo. Avrill Stark, Michael Christensen. Seven Network

AFI Award for Best Television Comedy Series

• Lowdown. Nicole Minchin, Amanda Brotchie, Adam Zwar. ABC
• Review With Myles Barlow, Season 2. Dean Bates. ABC
• Wilfred II. Jenny Livingston, Tony Rogers, Adam Zwar, Jason Gann. SBS

AFI Award for Best Light Entertainment Television Series

• The Gruen Transfer, Series 3. Andrew Denton, Anita Jacoby, Jon Casimir, Debbie Cuell. ABC1
• Hungry Beast, Series Two. Andrew Denton, Andy Nehl. ABC1
• MasterChef Australia. Margaret Bashfield, Judy Smart, Caroline Spencer. Network Ten
• Talkin’ ’bout Your Generation. Peter Beck. Network Ten

AFI Award for Best Television Drama Series

• The Circuit, Series 2. Ross Hutchens, Colin South. SBS
• Rush, Season 3. John Edwards, Mimi Butler. Network Ten
• Spirited. Claudia Karvan, Jacquelin Perske, John Edwards. W
• Tangle, Season 2. John Edwards, Imogen Banks. Showcase

AFI Award for Best Telefeature, Mini Series or Short Run Series

• A Model Daughter: The Killing Of Caroline Byrne. Karl Zwicky. Network Ten
• Hawke. Richard Keddie. Network Ten

AFI Award for Best Direction in Television

• Dance Academy – Episode 2, ‘Week Zero’. Jeffrey Walker. ABC
• Hawke. Emma   Freeman. Network Ten
• Rush, Season 3 – Episode 308, ‘Train’. Grant Brown. Network Ten
• Tangle, Season 2 – Episode 16, ‘Lost and Found’. Emma Freeman. Showcase

AFI Award for Best Screenplay in Television

• Hawke. Glen Dolman. Network Ten
• Review With Myles Barlow, Season 2 – Episode 6, ‘Happiness, Escapism, Acceptance’. Trent O’Donnell, Phil Lloyd. ABC
• Tangle, Season 2 – Episode 15, ‘Sleepwalking’. Fiona Seres. Showcase
• Wilfred II – Episode 7, ‘Dog Star’. Jason Gann, Adam Zwar. SBS

AFI Award for Best Lead Actor in a Television Drama

• Garry McDonald. A Model Daughter: The Killing Of Caroline Byrne. Network Ten
• Corey McKernan. Lockie Leonard. Nine Network
• Aaron Pedersen. The Circuit, Series 2. SBS
• Richard Roxburgh. Hawke. Network Ten

AFI Award for Best Lead Actress in a Television Drama

• Cheree Cassidy. Underbelly: The Golden Mile – Episode 7, ‘Full Force Gale’. Nine Network
• Justine Clarke. Tangle, Season 2. Showcase
• Poppy Lee Friar. Dead Gorgeous. ABC
• Catherine McClements. Tangle, Season 2. Showcase

AFI Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actor in a Television Drama

• Damien Garvey. Underbelly: The Golden Mile – Episode 10, ‘Hurt on Duty’.  Nine Network
• Rhys Muldoon. Lockie Leonard – Episode 11, ‘Snake Hide Oil. Nine Network
• John Waters. Offspring. Network Ten
• Ben Winspear. My Place – Episode 5, ‘1968 Sofia’. ABC

AFI Award for Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama

• Linda Cropper. Satisfaction, Season 3 – Episode 8, ‘Not Vanilla’. Showcase
• Sacha Horler. Hawke. Network Ten
• Asher Keddie. Hawke. Network Ten
• Deborah Mailman. Offspring. Network Ten

AFI Award for Best Performance in a Television Comedy

• Paul Denny. Lowdown. ABC
• Jason Gann. Wilfred II. SBS
• Phil Lloyd. Review With Myles Barlow, Season 2. ABC

AFI Award for Best Feature Length Documentary

• Contact. Martin Butler, Bentley Dean. ABC1
• Inside The Firestorm. Lucy Maclaren, Alex West. ABC
• The Snowman. Rachel Landers, Dylan Blowen.
• Strange Birds In Paradise – A West Papuan Story. Jamie Nicolai, John Cherry.

AFI Award for Best Documentary Under One Hour

• A Thousand Encores: The Ballets Russes In Australia. Sharyn Prentice, Marianne Latham, Lavinia Riachi. ABC
• Rudely Interrupted. Susie Jones, Benjamin Jones. ABC1
• Surviving Mumbai. Andrew Ogilvie, Andrea Quesnelle. ABC
• You Only Live Twice – The Incredibly True Story Of The Hughes Family. Ruth Cullen. ABC1

AFI Award for Best Documentary Series

• Addicted To Money. Andrew     Ogilvie, Andrea Quesnelle. ABC
• Disable Bodied Sailors. Karina Holden, Nick Robinson. SBS
• Kokoda. Andrew Wiseman. ABC1
• Liberal Rule- The Politics That Changed Australia. Nick Torrens, Frank Haines. SBS

AFI Award for Best Direction in a Documentary

• A Thousand Encores: The Ballets Russes In Australia. Amanda Chang. ABC
• Contact. Martin Butler, Bentley Dean. ABC1
• Inside The Firestorm. Jacob Hickey. ABC
• Strange Birds In Paradise – A West Papuan Story. Charlie Hill-Smith.

AFI Award for Best Cinematography in a Documentary

• Disable Bodied Sailors – Episode 3. Nick Robinson. SBS
• Miracles - Episode 1, ‘Miracle in the Storm’. Tony Oliver ACS. ABC1
• Strange Birds In Paradise – A West Papuan Story. Angus Kemp.
• Surviving Mumbai. Jim Frater. ABC

AFI Award for Best Editing in a Documentary

• A Thousand Encores: The Ballets Russes In Australia. Karin Steininger. ABC
• Contact. Tania  Nehme. ABC1
• Inside The Firestorm. Steven    Robinson. ABC
• Surviving Mumbai. David Fosdick. ABC

AFI Award for Best Sound in a Documentary

• A Thousand Encores: The Ballets Russes In Australia. Brett Aplin, Andrew McGrath, Erin McKimm. ABC
• Inside The Firestorm. Jock Healy, Tristan Meredith. ABC
• Kokoda – Episode 1, ‘The Invasion’. David Bridie, Chris Goodes, Ian Grant, Patrick Slater. ABC1
• Strange Birds In Paradise – A West Papuan Story. Mik la Vage, Doron Kipen, David Bridie.

AFI Award for Best Short Animation

• The Lost Thing. Sophie Byrne, Andrew Ruhemann, Shaun Tan.
• Zero. Christopher Kezelos, Christine Kezelos.

AFI Award for Best Short Fiction Film

• Deeper Than Yesterday. Ariel Kleiman, Benjamin Gilovitz, Sarah Cyngler, Anna Kojevnikov.
• The Kiss. Sonya Humphrey, Ashlee Page.
• The Love Song Of Iskra Prufrock. Lucy Gaffy, Lyn Norfor.
• Suburbia. Antonio Oreña-Barlin, Richard Halsted.

AFI Award for Best Screenplay in a Short Film.

• A Parachute Falling In Siberia. Sarah Shaw, Ian Meadows.
• Deeper Than Yesterday. Ariel Kleiman.
• Glenn Owen Dodds. Trent Dalton.
• The Kiss. Ashlee Page

I know the Film Experience has plentiful Australian readers -- i can see the stats, don't hide! --  so let us know: How did the AFI do this year? As for the rest of you, do you think Jacki Weaver is going to pull off that Supporting Actress Slot with the American Academy? And do you share the love of Kwanten on True Blood and Collette as Tara?

TIFF Capsules: Let Me In, Tamara Drewe, The Illusionist and Stone.

Normally my friend txtcritic who must remain anonymous just, well, texts me. Usually in the form of pithy sentence long reviews or moviegoing observations. But this time he sent capsules of his Toronto experience thus far. Enjoy.

"The Illusionist" shifts downgear from the infectious exuberance of "Triplets of Bellevile" to a more melancholy, low-key thing. It's largely lovely and endearing, but leaves one with a lot more to admire than to get caught up or involved in (though many others seem to be ringing the "masterpiece" bells). The film's incremental snowballing cynicism will ultimately leave you either profoundly sad or oddly cold/disengaged. I'm somewhat between the two, but I'd like another viewing. B

Leigh, Manville, Ruth Sheen & Jim Broadbent @ TIFF

"Another Year" belongs in Leigh's upper-tier. Lesley Manville gets the showy role. At first, I was ready to cry 'overhyped' but her character subtly shifts and slowly grows more downtrodden in such a realistic way that it will make some uncomfortable with recognition. As a whole, the movie's consistently absorbing and lovely in character detail, but Manville's performance is what makes it a heartbreaker. A-

Consensus definitely places Lesley Manville as an Oscar nominee. We already know that Oscar voters respond to the women in Mike Leigh pictures. But will it be a lead or supporting campaign? That probably depends on how the studio feels about her winning chances in either category. I'll be seeing this picture in a couple of weeks. I loved Manville & Broadbent's chemistry together in Topsy Turvy (1999) and though they're not a couple this time I hope they have plentiful scenes together.

Dominic Cooper and Gemma Arterton at the Tamara Drewe premiere to your left. About Stephen Frears latest....

Based on the graphic novel by Posy Simmonds, "Tamara Drewe" constantly alternates between amusing and irritating. It's devoid of substance and aggressively quirky, while never being less than watchable. Certainly a change of pace for Stephen Frears, but makes you wonder why he decided to make this movie. Tamara (Gemma Arterton) is an empty vessel who barely registers as a character and the only one who gives a performance of any depth or complexity is Tamsin Greig as a cuckolded wife. B-/C+

Though it's to be commended for reaching for something beyond the conventional movie the trailers are selling, "Stone" only barely falls just short of Trainwreck designation. It has enough batshit moments to never lose your interest, but it's ultimately the very definition of a "mess"; there's nary a coherent thought in its head. No one seems to have been given much direction, and we're as dumbfounded as how we should feel about their characters as they seem to be. De Niro shows early signs that this will be his first inspired performance in years but then loses his way, and I never could quite get a handle on what Edward Norton or Milla Jovovich were doing. D+

Finally, the early buzz on Let Me In is good dashing our hopes that critics would crucify it. Now normally we don't root against pictures we haven't seen but why was it remade in the first place? Read on...

While "Let Me In" remains an 'unnecessary' remake throughout, Matt Reeves has crafted a surprisingly successful, respectful 'cover' version of the beloved "Let the Right One In." Aside from one or two (superb) sequences, and some amped-up suspense and gore, not much new has been added here. What most impresses is how the film avoids pretty much every possible expected "remake" decision where it could have pandered or "broadened" appeal or caved to general American sensibilities. Reeves absolutely nails the tone of the original film, imposes largely the same look (often even paying homage to the original shot compositions), and the perfectly cast chief actors -- Chloe Grace Moretz, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Richard Jenkins, Elias Koteas -- feel just right in their roles. Skeptics, put away your knives. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. A-

I'm not sure I'll be pleasantly surprised. So far I've read a couple of reviews proclaiming that it's better than the original and several going to lengths to describe how meticulously director Matt Reeves has transferred the visual aesthetics, mood and even the shots of the original. How is a carefully detailed copy ever better than an original? Or at least how does whatever praise it garners seem like more than an interception? Please to explain. Whatever we love about it, must be credited to the original, if what we love was originated there. It's like when some people wanted to give Zach Snyder credit for the visual aesthetics of Watchmen when what he was essentially doing was following the storyboard and character designs provided by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons in graphic novel form.

Kodi Smit-McPhee gets bullied in Let Me In

Sorry, sorry. I know I'm off consensus on this topic. But faithful remakes they make-a me crazeeeeeeeeeee. This is why, ironically, I respected Gus Van Sant's Psycho (1998) so much. See, that widely hated film purposefully billed itself as a recreation... it was, therefore, an honest aesthetic experiment and cinematic exercize rather than a movie made to replace another movie for people who can't bring themselves to read subtitles or watch older films.

Maybe I'll calm down once I've seen it if it's good. Maybe I just don't relish having to watch Chloe Moretz every time a film needs a teenager this coming decade. They're casting her in everything (8-10 projects already on the way) and even if I loved her more, I always enjoy a variety of faces in my moviegoing.
*

Reader Request: THE ROAD

Let's just say this right up front. Watching John Hillcoat's The Road (2009) again in the midst of weeks of news reports about the BP oil spill is an entirely different experience than watching The Road during the mad holiday rush when it premiered or earlier still. It takes on a whole new coat of thick dread and sad relatability. This clings to the film as tenaciously as dirt clings to Viggo's weary face. I would add compassion to its new layers but the film always had a robust heart beating underneath the ash, toxic slush and malnourished skin.


Though Joe Penhall's screenplay adaptation preferences more backstory than the masterful Cormac McCarthy novel, it still sidesteps the imagination-deficiency of Hollywood that usually leads to a distracting amount of exposition. Backstory can be useful in small doses but the complete terror at leaving anything to the audience's imagination has ruined too many modern films. It's a relief to see some corrective.

In the case of The Road, it's important for us to know that the apocalypse happened; The amazing art direction (which I probably should have nominated in my personal awards) and shots of a sickly yellow light outside a window, is enough to convey the end of the world. But it's equally crucial that we don't know why said apocalypse happened. This is more realistic (if the world as we know it is suddenly destroyed, chances are the survivors will be utterly confused) and leaves the movie open to complete immersion for any viewer, transcending all political biases.

I, for instance, imagine that any future apocalypse will occur due to either fanatic religious types who just can't swallow the "live and let live" concept or from our systemic political problems which always value corporate profits over the health of our fellow men and the planet (see also: BP oil spill and "drill baby drill" madness, An Inconvenient Truth, etcetera).

But if you were the opposite type of person, say someone who believes in the sanctity of an unregulated market or someone who is deeply religious, or someone who is Sarah Palin, your imagined apocalypse will probably come from other places. There are certainly people out there who think that the apocalypse will come from God because he's angry with people for loving the "wrong" gender, you know?

But no matter.

If or when the world ends, none of these distinctions will matter. The only thing that will matter to anyone is survival. And even that won't be an attractive option. Charlize Theron playing "woman" for example isn't too keen on it. I don't think I would be either, though it'd surely be awfully hard to drag yourself away from Viggo Mortensen. Especially if he was whimpering and begging for you to stay.

"Spend one more night with me. Why.. why do you have to go?"

Theron seems to be willing herself to become the female embodiment of misery with her film choices of late -- when do we ever see her smile? -- but she's good at it. Viggo Mortensen, on the other hand, is a straight up miracle worker.

Is there a famous actor alive who is this masculine yet utterly non-posturing about it? As an actor he can access incredibly soft places that lesser men could never approach without hedging or diluting self consciousness. Viggo's always front and center and as a result The Road becomes a unique animal, a tender apocalyptic drama. This genre tends to go for the jugular with manly brutality. That's kind of flattering machismo posturing itself, letting audiences know that only the strong survive and our hero happens to be THE STRONGEST.

"I won't let anything happen to you. I'll take care of you.
I'll kill anyone who touches you. Because that's my job."

Viggo and screen son Kodi Smit-McPhee are paired well and the papa/child emotions run deep enough that the movie ends up feeling far more brutal than most apocalypse-set films. For this time you can see the death of goodness, or softness, or "the light" if you will, in danger of being snuffed out forever. That's more brutal than any physical violence.

The best things about The Road when it first arrived such as the fine acting from all corners (though the film isn't exactly crowded), smart art direction and a judicious filling out of the novel for the big screen are still intact in the film's second life for home viewing. Unfortunately for all of The Road's rather significant strengths, it was doomed from the get go in measuring up to one of the best novels ever written. For instance, how could the film possibly match the book's final paragraph [SPOILER] which contains such a genius literary flourish, abandoning the characters for a poetic and nearly abstract memory of trout in a stream. [/SPOILER].

And oh, how I wish the movie hadn't had a score. Though the compositions by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis are fine on their own terms as musical elements, a score is the wrong choice for the movie, hobbling its otherwise disheartening emptiness. If ever a movie needed to go without music it was this one. The recurring reminder of "Papa"'s relationship to music, those painful shots of the family piano in a couple of scenes, would be a thousand percent more devastating if the piano and memory scenes were the only notes we heard, music dying along with the rest of the world. Think of that potent moment in Cast Away when the music finally returned to the film as Tom Hanks escaped his island prison? That would never have been as rousing and cathartic had we been hearing a score the whole time. That film stumbles more often than The Road does, so I don't mean to compare the latter unfavorably. But it's hard not to imagine that The Road could have been a truly stark miserabilist classic with more commitment to the withholding of traditional movie comforts.

B+ (up a notch from previous grade)
P.S. If you haven't read the novel, do so immediately. It's an all time great.
*