Issue 117: On The Road Archives - Bright Wall/Dark Room

Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979) | artwork by Tom Ralston

For all its discussions of morals and metaphysics, Stalker is ultimately a film about criticism—not in the sense of simply pronouncing something wasteful or worthwhile, but in the explicative sense, wherein interpreting an object or experience imparts a particular way of seeing.

The Other Half of You

Christian Craig·

Issue 117: On The Road

Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild is a lot of things—Renoirian screwball, Gen-X The Odd Couple, defense for the reggae mixtape—but it’s a road movie first and foremost.

There and Back Again

Calvin McMillin·

Issue 117: On The Road

Whereas Hirokazu Kore-eda's Shoplifters is a fairly stationary film, charting one family’s experiences in and around their cramped Tokyo home, Broker is a story of people on the move.

The Endless Road

Brianna Zigler·

Issue 117: On The Road

Bookended by the post-industrial Midwestern hellscapes of Stranger Than Paradise and the twilight tourist Americana of Mystery Train, Jim Jarmusch's Down by Law takes us to the bayous of New Orleans, where a pimp, a radio DJ, and an Italian traveler all wind up in jail.

Screenshot from Warner Bros' original theatrical trailer for Scarecrow (1973) via YouTube

Boxcar Love: Scarecrow’s Not-So-Modern Bromance

Duncan Birmingham·

Issue 117: On The Road

In its own time, this hard-to-pigeonhole ambling road picture had as much trouble finding its place in the world as Max and Lion. But the past decade has seen Scarecrow garner a cult following, with Pacino and Hackman both publicly praising it, and director Jerry Schatzberg even rhapsodizing about a sequel.

The Circus Sands

Nathaniel Missildine·

Issue 117: On The Road

In Fellini's La Strada, we enter another plane by grace of Gelsomina. Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) is the Spirit, the Soul. She will play the trumpet.

The Winding Road to the Interior

The Other Half of You

There and Back Again

The Endless Road

Boxcar Love: Scarecrow’s Not-So-Modern Bromance

The Circus Sands