road films

so i just got back from my two week vacation. i took a road trip down to the united states. the trip comprised of over 7000 km, driving through 8 states, and as with all road trips, lots of interesting stories. more on that later.

it's no secret that i have a thing for road trips. i love road trip films, and i love writing about them, mostly because i think they're such great vehicles for stories. that being said, i thought i might compile a short list of some of the better road films that i've come across in recent memory. they are listed in no particular order. i'm too lazy to give much of a description, save for a short blip:

kalifornia

tell me, big shot, how you gonna write a book about something you know nothing about?

- early, in kalifornia.

kalifornia is very worthy and interesting meditation on violence and living it vs writing about it. white violent itself, it never uses violence for anything other than to further the plot. this is classic just to see david duchovny in his pre x-files days.

true romance

i always said, if i had to fuck a guy... i mean had to, if my life depended on it... i'd fuck elvis.

- clarence woreley, in true romance.

true romance indulges in violence with glee, very hard to watch at times, but entertaining for its controlled chaos. while kalifornia spends all its time thinking about the meaning of violence, true romance does the exact opposite: in fact, one can't help think if tarantino has ever seriously thought about the consequences of violence. i don't think he has, because he shows now attempt at any sort of responsibility in any of his writing. personally, i don't think he's smart enough. but he writes fun dialogue, that's for sure.

the motorcycle diaries

you gotta fight for every breath and tell death to go to hell.

- ernesto, in the motorcycle diaries.

the motorcycle diaries is about two men, ernesto guevara and alberto granado who go on a trip on the back of an old motorcycle. ernesto would later be known more famously as the revolutionary, che guevara. political without the preaching.

y tu mama tambien

luisa: you have to make the clitoris your best friend.
tenoch: what kind of friend is always hiding?

- y tu mama tambien.

y tu mama tambien is basically about two horny teenage boys who go on a trip with a much older woman. that's about it. it's pretty simple, and of course there are revelations about the woman and the boys grow to know more about themselves and each other. there's no new ground covered here, but it's just well made and acted and has quite a lot of heart.

world traveler

women are just different than men. they want different things. i mean, jesus christ, i don't want to see anyone for that many days in a row.

- cal, in world traveler.

world traveler is about a man who one day, without warning, just gets up and abandons his wife and child. he goes on the road in search of something that he's been thinking about for a very long time. this is a very slow moving film, relying more on mood than anything else, but it is very good. cal, the main character, meets all sorts of people, especially women. if there's anything true about this film, is the women. you certainly do meet interesting women while on the road. again, more on that later in a different post.