The Road

I love post apocalyptic stories.  The idea of a world so changed that the way humans have to interact and exist is so different from our own is just interesting.  Gaming has been all over the idea recently, from Fallout 3 and its famed wasteland or even World of Warcraft getting into the act with Cataclysm.  One of my favorite short stories is “I have No Mouth, and I Must Scream” by Harlan Ellison (actually most anything by Ellison is great) in which five humans roam a world now ruled by a giant super computer.  Some stories can be action oriented (Mad Max) and some a bit more low key and realistic (Fallout on hardcore mode) but all share the same trait ; desperation.  The Road, a film directed by John Hillcoat and based off the novel by Cormac McCarthy, is another story set in the post apocalyptic United States.  It’s a film that focuses not on the why’s and how’s of an apocalypse, but what a father and his young son have to do to survive.  There is no saving society, there’s really no society left to be saved.  Viggo Mortensen plays “Man” and Kodi Smit-Mcphee (who went on to star in the excellent Let Me In) plays “Boy”.  The fact these characters have no names is telling, there’s no need for them.  Their stated goal is to journey south into warmer climate, but the real goal is merely to survive.  It’s a touching journey between a father and son set against one of the most hopeless settings I’ve ever seen in a film.

Let Me in

Aaaah Vampires.  Pop culture loves em!  Between Twilight and True Blood, hip sexy vampires are in.  Which is why I’m amazed that director Matt Reeves got a wide release for this film.  Vampires in this universe are not hip or sexy.  They are vampires in the most traditional sense, as in no sunlight, requires human blood to live, and the vampire “fact” that they cannot enter somebody’s home unless they are given permission to enter.  What is more amazing is that the core of this film is not a horror fright fest meant for teenagers to laugh and giggle at late at night.  It’s a coming of age story, a love story, and a vampire story wrapped together, carried by the absurdly strong performances of real life children Kodi Smit-Mcphee and Chloe Moretz, who are 14 and 13 respectively.  If this film is any indication, we have two actors who are going to be A-list material before they’re even able to drive.