The Road
Karma, condensed.
What goes around comes around. A jogger helps a motorist avoid a parking fine, the motorist helps an elderly woman, and so it turns. One act of kindness leads to another as each person passes their good karma along the chain.
The film has no dialogue and writer/director Owen Thomas demonstrates a real flair for visual storytelling. We know what is happening and what the characters are thinking because we can see it and the plot really does need no explanation.
It helps, of course, that the cast is so strong throughout and able to consistently bring enough personality to their characters to generate some real empathy. The mood of the film is also hugely helped by the soundtrack – a single piece of music that really does set the tone.
It’s not just the music though. Everything here, from the cinematography and the editing to the characterisation, comes together perfectly to to tell a straightforward story that is threaded through with a really positive mood throughout.
The Road is a film about life, good intentions and random acts of kindness and one that creates such a genuinely uplifting tone that, when the punchline comes, it is both unexpected and laugh out loud funny.
Tuesday 01 Jul 2008 | Paul Pritchard | Comedy
