A further disappointment is the film’s lack of societal context, where Sal’s troop is barely distinguishable from the rest of his generation. Despite Kerouac having almost single-handedly spawned the counterculture movement, there is no reference to the widespread conservatism that dominated post-war America and which viciously shunned its outliers. Instead of fearless rebels the characters are burdened by their hangups and in the end, Sal finds himself pulled back into the same bourgeoisie he so loathed, which gave him the impetus to adventure in the first place.

As a work in itself, the film is slick and beautiful. The shots are well-composed and reflect Salles’ skill in capturing melancholic moods. He clearly uses the excitable camera style to reflect the intensity of bop jazz, the lunacy of his central character, the drugs they take and the abandonment in which they seem to live. However, using it throughout the movie, even where the mood is mellow and doesn’t call for it, makes the truly delirious crescendos of the film, which are spectacular, somewhat less impactful. The pacing is too rushed, the characters never come up for air, and Sal’s journey feels like a checklist rather than an open wayfaring into the unknown. Without a tenable sense of purpose to the trip the story inevitably has little to fall back on.

Overall it is an entertaining film with a great-looking cast and a few memorable moments. But it doesn’t deliver on its potential even when viewed apart from its famous forefather, and will likely not inspire a new generation of adventurers to hit the road.

-Nick Lynch 

Nick has just returned to Toronto.  After graduating from Queen’s University he worked building rock walls for the summer to save enough money to take a year on the road himself. He drove clear across Canada from Toronto to British Columbia, down to California, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico then back again. Fresh from his own adventure, Nick is sharing his review of Salles’ film ‘On the Road” with myetvmedia viewers.