There aren't many examples of cinema which can be held up as being as oppressively bleak as John Hillcoat's 2009 adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Road. The isolation experienced here by Viggo Mortensen's "Man" and his son "Boy" played by Kodi Smit-McPhee is a post-apocalyptic Dystopian nightmare, which since its release has put every parent who has viewed it in the position of imagining how they would cope in such a scenario if they were to find themselves wandering a barren environmentally decimated landscape trying to protect their child from the elements, starvation and cannibalistic predators. Although a haunting and visually striking film, The Road is not an easy film to experience, and the recommendation of not watching it alone in this case is more so you have someone to discuss the possibility "should we switch this off?" not because it is a poor film just to spare you the hefty dose of melancholia it prescribes.
As well as the odd article, I apply my "special mind" to scriptwriting for Comics, Films and Games... Oh and I cut down trees, I skip and jump, I like to press wild flow'rs, I put on women's clothing, and hang around in bars.
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