The Art of Travel

I'm reviewing this movie nearly 5 years after I saw it, so bear with me. "Why bother," you ask? Because 5 years later I'm still hard pressed to come up with a movie like it.

A real gem, though not necessarily everyone's cup of tea, "The Art of Travel" will appeal to those of you wanderlusting souls who can enjoy adventures in the simple act of getting on a plane and going somewhere new. There are no car chases, bank heists or torrid love affairs with hot supermodels. But since when have any of you experienced any of that? (If you have, then why the heck are you watching movies like the rest of us schmoes??)

Actually the story does contain some heavy action & suspense, possibly some good old Central American gunfire, but that's not intended to be the focus. On the contrary, life without hair-raising thrills can be every bit as adventurous and fun, and "The Art of Travel" shows us precisely that. I highly recommend it to young people who plan on traveling the world, as well as older folks who have never had the opportunity. This film awakens the adventurer in all of us. And don't get me wrong; it's certainly not boring. Like any good trip to a foreign land, every minute is packed with the unexpected. Hats off to the filmmakers for bringing the unique magic of travel into our living rooms.

This film is composed of elements that appeal to me but I was disappointed. The acting is journeyman quality and the cinematography is professional. The story is generally juvenile and poorly detailed, with some exceptions. Those good scenes made viewing less painful. The plot development tries, but fails to achieve a coherence and fails to allow the characters to become real. This leaves the movie as an 18 year old's fantasy of what he could do if he left his home town in anger and embarrassment and had hot chicks falling for him through a series of adventures while traveling on money provided by a cool dad living vicariously. The young hero accomplishes nothing on his own merit except for saving the trans-Darien expedition from a guerrilla band in a scene that rings so phony it would have worked better as a dream sequence. This is not a retelling of the universal stories of transformation through adversity or rites of passage. Although the central character grows a beard and looks older by the end of the movie he has not matured. Likewise, decent acting and production values have not created a mature or compelling film.

Had googled 'great travel movies' before I watched this, and must admit that it has been a long time since I was that disappointed. I will not employ tired similes in this review (such as 'it has as much depth as a well-splashed puddle') but rarely have I seen a movie - with so much potential to be engaging - being so unengaging. All the characters overacted, so I was left midway through wondering whether this was meant to be a farce or a philosophical 'find yourself' film. Masterson's character annoyed me so much that had I encountered him on his central/south American odyssey, I would have slapped him to the deepest reaches of Patagonia. While there was some redemption in the cinematography, the overall premise of this movie was constructed with incredulous naivety and could just very well turn you against backpackers or put you off your next jaunt to Machu Picchu

One of the better entries at Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, California. It kept me entertained throughout and also dealt with some consistently fascinating themes such as coming-of-age, maturity, personal growth, and freedom. The cinematography was beautiful, some breath-taking shots of the jungle, and yet always somehow managing to make us feel as claustrophobic and trapped as the characters we followed. A problem many independent films seem to run into is introducing something and then not tying it up, but The Art of Travel wrapped everything up and wrapped it up well, in compliance with both the story and believable character arcs. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

So I watched this film to an sold out audience at Cinequest a couple weeks ago. While watching the movie I was entertained, maybe not as much as the rest of the audience who seemed to just love it, but by the end of the film I just thought the film was at least fun to watch, nothing that blew me away, but I wasn't disappointed in the film at all. I watched the Q & A and the filmmakers seemed really passionate about the way it was made and to go out and travel the world. And they had some great stories about how the film was made. And Brooke Burns is so beautiful in person - which by the way she played one of my favorite characters in the film too. Anyway, I walked out of the theater thinking it was alright and now, two weeks later, I'm still thinking about the movie! Now- I think the film is quite amazing and I will rent it if it ever comes out on video. (I'm happy I got to see it on a big screen) How funny huh? It's not the greatest independent I've ever seen, but it's dam entertaining and it makes you want to go out and travel the world. What's crazier is that I actually bought a ticket to Honduras yesterday and I'm setting out for my own adventure! So I warn you, watching the film might make you do something impulsive. . . that's a good movie in my book.