In Seth Scriver and Shayne Ehman's Asphalt Watches, two
dudes--Skeleton Hat and Bucktooth Cloud--decide to hitchhike across the
Trans-Canada Highway (although technically, Bucktooth Cloud is a blob, not a
dude). Like all good road movies, Asphalt Watches makes sure viewers know that
the journey is usually more important than the destination. Unlike other road
movies, the entirety of Asphalt Watches is Flash animation, but it's not a
kids' cartoon. It's part of The Toronto International Film Festival's Vanguard
Programme this year, too.
Here are five other road movies that are a bit off the
beaten path (get it?).
Road trips usually mean dirty gas stations, questionable
hotels, and bad food. Not that Stephan Elliott's 1994 film doesn't have those
things, but since the main characters are all drag queens, it's way more
glamorous than most other road movies. Tick (Hugo Weaving), Bernadette (Terence
Stamp), and Adam (Guy Pearce) set out for a small town in the middle of
Nowheresville, Australia to perform at a hotel casino resort. Along the way,
the trio encounters hijinks, heartbreak, and eventually, happiness.
2. The Rambler
Calvin Lee Reeder wrote and directed this surrealistic road
trip movie that follows the real and possibly imagined adventures of the
nameless title character, played by Dermot Mulroney. Although its narrative is
anything but straightforward, in a lot of ways The Rambler feels more realistic
than other road movies. After all, being on the road for days at a time, can
make you see all kinds of crazy things. Like a scientist who can record dreams on VHS tape or women
who might be your girlfriend might be real, or merely a figment of your
imagination.
3. Prometheus
Not every road movie has to take place on an actual road.
Like Doc Brown says at the end of Back To The Future, "Where we're going,
we don't need roads." Prometheus is set in the future, but before the
events of Ridley Scott's Alien movie. It also has a lot of the same
touchstones: scientists travel deep into space to search for answers to
questions that perhaps they shouldn't be asking. Let's not forget multinational
corporations and hidden agendas! The end of Prometheus pointed towards a sequel
where the surviving scientist, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) would embark
on another road movie with an android's head as her companion (Michael
Fassbender). This is possibly a first for any road movie.
4. The Road
This utterly bleak tale of a post-apocalyptic society is
such a road movie that it actually has the word "road" in the title.
Viggo Mortenson and Kodi Smit-McPhee play an unnamed father and son who aren't
so much in search of a final destination as they are trying just to survive.
It's based on a Cormac McCarthy novel, so "grim" is probably an
understatement, but you should know that things get much, much darker in the
film before any light shines through.
Peter Jackson's epic trilogy is possibly the ultimate road
movie because it's actually several road movies in one. The nine members of the
Fellowship of the Ring are split apart by choice and necessity, resulting in a
series of parallel narratives involving traveling to various destinations. And
for most of the movies' nine-hour plus running
time, Frodo and Sam literally walk on roads without shoes! (Hobbits have sturdy feet, but still, that's hardcore. At
least Viggo Mortenson had makeshift shoes in The Road.) The Lord of the Rings
trilogy might be the only road movie in which there are no cars, trucks,
bicycles, motorcycles, or spacecraft. Instead, there are horses, carts, boats,
ships, eagles, and of course, the Fell Beasts the Nazgûl ride.
After a this list of wildly diverse road movies, you should
be prepared for the insane adventures found within Asphalt Watches, screening at TheToronto International Film Festival's Vanguard Programme.
ASPHALT WATCHES Screening Times:
Tuesday, Sept 10th, 9:45 PM SCOTIABANK 8
Thursday, Sept 12th, 8:45 PM SCOTIABANK 13
Friday, Sept 13th, 2:15 PM SCOTIABANK 4
