Director: Walter Salles | Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Sam Riley, Kristen Stewart, Garrett Hedlund, Steve Buscemi | IS Drama 124mins
Many have tried and few have succeeded in filming Jack Kerouac’s autobiographical Beat classic. Here it finally makes it to the screen courtesy of Walter Salles of Motorcycle Diaries fame. There were mixed feelings about this feature at Cannes when it premiered twelve years ago and many felt that it had failed to capture the zeitgeist despite clinging close to the novel. So desperate to be “cool” it almost fails; to my mind at least, but it has a starry cast and follows through the Beat era: a pretty long one at just over two hours – Viggo Mortensen, Sam Riley, Steve Buscemi and Kristen Stewart are there to keep you amused on the journey.MT
NOW ON MUBI