his morning brought a screening of the film we here at movieScope had been looking forward to with a mix of anticipation and trepidation; John Hillcoat’s big screen retelling of Cormac McCarthy’s celebrated post-apocalyptic novel The Road. Adapting such a seminal work was always going to be difficult, but playwright Joe Penhall has - thankfully - done an admirable job in translating McCarthy’s vision into a brutal yet utterly compelling glimpse of a terrifying future.

The Road

Lord of the Rings star Viggo Mortensen puts in a career-best performance as the father who must strive to protect his young son (played to perfection by 13-year-old Kodi Smit-McPhee) in the dying wastelands after Earth has been devastated by an unnamed disaster. As this intense father/son dynamic plays out against a bleak landscape, in which starving gangs roam the countryside looking for fresh meat, so The Road becomes a mesmerising morality play; how do you tell the difference between good and evil when normal rules no longer apply?

For a full review, plus interviews with director John Hillcoat and writer Joe Penhall, check out our upcoming December/January issue on shelf November 2009!

And click the link below for the official Day Two LFF Vodcast, including footage from The Men Who Stare At Goats premiere featuring George Clooney and Grant Heslove.

2009 London Film Festival: Day Two Official Vodcast

www.bfi.org.uk/lff