8/6/2019 Le Monde Review (English)

1/2

Cinma

Critique

"Road to Nowhere": Monte Hellman on theroad again

| 12.04.11 | 13h55 Updated 12.04.11 | 16h48

A rare filmmaker, a clever thriller, the discovery of an actress. Upon arrival, a great film.

This man with the precognizant name Hell, that of a cult filmmaker mistreated by the studios and

sentenced to failed projects. Author of two existential westerns starring Jack Nicholson (Ride inthe Whirlwind, 1965, The Shooting, 1967), the famous Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), whichUniversal produced in hopes of renewing the success of Easy Rider (1969), and then sabotaged

the release noting that it was more like a contemplative reflection on the lack of communicationthan the road movie with Dennis Hopper, Monte Hellman will pay for his expensive reputation

as an independent filmmaker. Hes only signed ten films in fifty years.

With a special Golden Lion at the Venice Festival in 2010, Road to Nowhere celebrates thereturn of an artist so cursed he could direct nothing for twenty years. For the younger generation

who have not seen his (false) action movies haunted by Albert Camus, Samuel Beckett andRobert Bresson, the glory of Hellman is to have set foot in the stirrup of Quentin Tarantino

(Reservoir Dogs, 1992) and Vincent Gallo (Buffalo 66, 1998).

Road to Nowhere, the return of the damned, provides a special feeling for those who yearn for anauteur from the epoque of the magnificent slow, Antonioni and Wenders style. Considered the

most European of Hollywood filmmakers, Monte Hellman, 78, will combine the throes of afilmmaker shooting a movie with a plot of film noir, and a reflection on the obsession with

perfection. One that was guiding the Chevy driver in Two-Lane Blacktop or the trainer of cocksin Cockfighter (1974).

Here, then, a young man determined to adapt to film a news story: the story of the enigmatic

Velma Duran, who was embroiled in a murky political issue out of love for a shady characterwith whom she had committed suicide based on oppression in Cuba. He seeks the perfect actress,

resists pressure from producers who want to see Scarlett Johansson signed, finds a virtualunknown whom he wins over, imposes, and with whom he falls in love ...

The bulk of Road to Nowhere is this abyss of a movie-within-a-movie which allows Monte

Hellman to show an interview with DiCaprio on The Departed (2006), advocate the right tomake movies for other reasons than to "make lots of money", and to hire a Series B actress,

explaining that she will just be herself. This nod to performance directions of Samuel Fuller to

8/6/2019 Le Monde Review (English)

2/2