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Monte Hellman's Road to Nowhere (2010) Movie Review: A

Cinematic Dream

Midway through Monte Hellmans noirish head-scratcherRoad to Nowhere, an actress asks a

director a seemingly simple question:

How many movies have you seen?

You shouldnt really ask a filmmaker that, the director replies, gently scolding his leadinglady. We dont want people to know how much time we spend obsessing over other peoples

dreams.

Road to Nowhere is Hellmans first full-length feature or cinematic dream, if you prefer intwo decades, and Ive been obsessing over it for more than a week now. I saw the film three

times during its limited run in New York City, and wouldnt turn down the opportunity to watch

it again. Im not sure if Ive ever seen a movie three times in nine days,

not even Star Wars in1977. But Im also not sure if Ive ever seen a movie exactly likeRoad to Nowhere.

LikeDouble Indemnity and its genre brethren,Road to Nowhere begins in the aftermath of acrime. Sexy blogger Nathalie Post (Dominique Swain, the titular nymph of Adrian

LynesLolita) interviews Hollywood director Mitchell Haven (Tygh Runyan) about his filmversion of a notorious North Carolina murder mystery an insurance fraud that left multiple

people dead and multiple millions missing. As Hellman unwinds the narrative, we discover thatnot only are the dead people not actually dead, one of them may be starring in the movie under

an assumed identity, playing the fictional version of herself.

If traditional noir tells stories in Real Time and Remembered Time (a.k.a. flashbacks),

Roadto Nowhere adds a third dimension: Movie Time, the cinematic reality of the docudrama beingshot by the lead characters. These three planes of existence intermingle engagingly for two hours

until the surprising climax, when they collide in a resolution that creates more confusion than itdispels.

Movie Time is over, the antagonist announces, whipping a gun out of his jacket and aiming it

at the director and the actress.

And hes right. Movie Time is over, until Hellman adds yet another narrative skin to the onion a Hail Mary pass that, depending upon your perspective, creatively makes or breaks the

film. Upon each viewing I changed my opinion of the ending,

as well as what actually happenedleading up to it. And Im pretty sure Hellman would be comfortable with that.

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I first sawRoad to Nowhere at the Walter Reade Theater in New York City on June 8, during

a Film Society of Lincoln Center salute to Hellman. In a post-screening Q&A, the 78-year-olddirector described the film as a group subconscious effort among his cast and crew and an

effort to relinquish control after a long career as a control freak.

In many ways I think Im a skinny Hitchcock, he told the audience. But in many ways Imdifferent. He liked to visualize the whole thing before he started. I dont want to know what its

going to be like. I want to be surprised every day on the set.

Hellman praised the contributions of editor Celine Ameslon, who both simplified Steven

Gaydoss complex script and added a profound level of complication to it with a singularlyaudacious editorial decision. Though he blessed it, Hellman confessed that there was creative

disagreement regarding Amelsons approach to the climax.

Everyone kept saying, You cant do that! That destroys any reality! Hellman said. But thoseare the kinds of battles and arguments that make movies interesting.

You can decide for yourself whats real and whats not whenRoad to Nowhere is released on

DVD and Blu-Ray on August 23. I know what I think, and Im not telling. But Monte Hellmanstake on this cinematic dream is pretty much summed up in the final line of the closing credits:

This film is a true story.

Posted on Sunday, June 19, 2011, by Will McKinley