On the Road

Beat writing may have given plenty of nonconformist writers a voice back in the ‘50s but, judging from On the Road the movie, one thing is sure: it was never made for the big-screen. Walter Salles should be lauded for his attempt to adapt Jack Kerouac’s freewheeling prose, but he inevitably ends up with a road movie void of plot and, ironically, direction. It is beautifully shot and Garrett Hedlund turns in a charismatic performance as Dean Moriarty, although Sam Riley’s hokey accent and Kristen Stewart’s naked but empty performance manage to further tarnish the overall quality of the picture.

2/5   

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Drugs, homophobia, social dysfunction, emotional rejection… it feels like most of the classic teen quandaries have been ticked in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Yet like its introverted protagonist, Steven Chbosky’s cinematic debut lacks the confidence to mingle with the harder-hitting high school dramas (Elephant, The Virgin Suicides, We Need to Talk About Kevin) and instead plays it safe by operating on the sidelines. Nevertheless, this sweet little film manages to pull off a few feats of its own, like a very touching first kiss and, in a moment of beautifully-scored nostalgia, a scene that reminds us how thrilling it was in a pre-Shazam world to track down that song we once heard on the radio.

3/5