Except that that scene made me pause for a few minutes before I could move on again. Ugh.

I think the wild dogs analogy is pretty good, this is the Old West populated with rabid dogs with six shooters and the violence is unrelenting, so yeah dark may be an understatement.

Thanks rot for the Ridley Scott connection!

Ack, blurring eyes not to read about the other book. Overall I might find these ones too dark but it’s a little early to say that. Something too keep eyes and ears open for!

I love that line from the judge… for me the best parts are when stories are being told either by the judge or about him, those chapters fly by… but then intermittently there are dense descriptions of events, Moby Dick dense. I still think they are great but it is work to slog through.

as for softening, well that should be relative… do they need to have infant heads burst over rocks, no, but the pervasive mood of violence and hopelessness, of these people living like wild dogs, senseless atrocities everywhere, that HAS to be there or there is no film to speak of.

I suspect the thing the judge does with the puppy will be in the film.

That which exists without my knowledge exists without my consent.

Am I to take it that this means you didn’t like Kingdom of Heaven? I can see why the distributor chopped that film but the end result was a disaster compared to the epic that is the Director’s cut which, also happens to be, nothing short of brilliant.

After finishing the book I’m more than a little surprized that they are making a film adaptation. It was a good book, and very visual but other than that I’m not convinced.

Ridley Scott better not soften the story, or go Kingdom of Heaven or I will be incredibly pissed.

Notice the “ERIE, PA.” at the beginning of the article. Representing my home town. WORD.

Anyway, I’m predicting it now, without even seeing a second of footage. The Road shall win Best Picture!!

As for Blood Meridian, it’s an incredible work, easily one of the greatest American novels of the 20th century. But no, rot, filming hasn’t begun on Blood Meridian yet. I wrote about it a couple months ago in my McCarthyism post. Everything seems to be at a standstill with production right now and nobody except Ridley is signed on yet.

I am halfway through Cormac’s Blood Meridian – a book I really like in stops and starts, and I believe Ridley Scott is in post-production in the film adaptation, perhaps it could be ready for showing at TIFF too. Two Cormac McCarthy adaptations at the same festival might inspire the author to show up methinks.

I suppose more likely Tiff-darling Ridley will come with his other film already in the can, House of Lies… but time will tell.

Apparently there’s a NY times story on the project which delves fairly deeply into the plot. I haven’t read it yet, going to wait until AFTER I read the book but if I find it, I’ll pass it along.

I’ve given up on reading books before movies – for the most part. I just take them as they come. Funny thing actually – I saw “The Jane Austen Book Club” a while back and read the book after seeing the film and I liked the film better than the book.

The last book I read was Perfume which once I started I read it pretty quickly. I’m sure the same will be with The Road.

The one thing of reading this coming up is that I’m somewhat depressed that I’m going to ruin the movie for me. I really enjoyed No Country as a movie without having read the book. I’m trying to decide which medium I want to be entertained with. I’m sure the book has more to say but I also don’t want to ruin the movie.

1/2 through the book. I think I’m going to need a massive cry when I finish.

Man, I hate how we have to wait so long for this…