Kerouac’s “On The Road” in the Theater
“On the Road” was a ground-breaking novel by Jack Kerouac
that defined what would become known as the Beat Generation. Opening April 5 at
FAU’s Living Room Theater, “On the Road” is a cinematic treatment of the rambling book by Walter
Salles, director of “The Motorcycle Diaries.” The central character of Sal
Paradise, played by Sam Riley in the movie, is a fictionalized version of Kerouac. Similarily, Dean Moriarity (Garrett Hedlund) a stand-in for Kerouac’s best friend,
Neal Cassady. Some of the characters are real fellow writers. Others are thinly-disguised.
Finished in 1951 but not published until 1957, mostly due to
censorship issues, “On the Road” was a rambling, spontaneous, improvised
interior monologue, famously typed on a 120-foot roll of paper with no
punctuation or paragraph breaks.
The movie resembles the book rather self-consciously, as
some of the actors are well known. A case in point is Marylou, played by
“Twilight” star Kristen Stewart, who sheds her teen image along with her clothes
for the amoral character. Also playing against type are Kirsten Dunst as Camille
and Amy Adams as Jane. If you are looking for titillating thrills, you will not
find them here. In fact “On the Road” with all its hetero and homosexual sex, smoking,
drinking, drugging and carousing, becomes a bit dull. Sadly, Kerouac reached his own dead end in St. Petersburg, Florida in 1969. He died from internal bleeding as a result of his alcoholism. He was 47.
On a cheerier note...
Delray Beach Has a 3-Day “Affair”
The 51st Delray Affair is this weekend, April 5-7 along
No comments:
Post a Comment