On the Road with Judas

On The Road With Judas was a gem of a film, using an interesting device of stories within stories, of a book's characters, the screen version characters, the writer's vision, all looped together around a talk show host's coverage of the writer and his works. To really enjoy this unusual method of storytelling, relax and wait for it to start making sense—it will, if you pay attention—all the way to the end.

This unique story centers on two boys in high school learning thievery for fun, and then as adults perfecting techniques and becoming thieves as an avocation to supplement their entrepreneurial business. Their business crew is clever and hardworking. The ensemble cast played well together, lead by Aaron Ruell and JJ Lask himself. Judas is small and smart, his best friend tall and more noticeable, which lands him in prison, "temporarily". Lask adds in a girl for a peek at how socially numb Judas reacts, to mix things up.

The entire film worked, on many levels, including the acting, cinematography and editing. JJ Lask, Writer/Director of this film adaptation of his 2002 novel, whipped up a fascinating and elegantly fashioned bit of intellectual explorations. Quite witty and relevant. Ben Starkman, a lifelong friend of Lask's and fellow commercial editor of award winning commercials, did a fantastic job of lensing this complex, location-rich and day/night filming endeavor. Aaron Ruell adroitly delivers an intriguing Judas. I hope that this will come to a local art house so you can catch it. Otherwise, buy it or rent it on Netflix...Lask's original work is definitely a great addition to any discerning film collector's library.

Just watched a Sundance showing with an appreciative audience, On Jan 23rd in Park City. The theater was crowded with a 20 something crowd eager for something different. What they got was a confusing but compelling work which blends documentary style with dramatic insight. Touching, funny and twisted themes will keep the audience puzzled but engaged. The author and director JJ Lask has taken his well received book and created a screen play that works well in the Sundance arena but may be difficult to sell to a broader audience. Great performances, original writing and editing make this otherwise hard to watch film worth the effort. The score was dense with original and contemporary work.

This is a film about a writer, who has written a novel, that is made into a movie, in which his imaginary characters are "real" people, who are portrayed by actors, who appear on a talk show, hosted by the actual writer of the novel and the film, where they sometimes comment on the real/fictional characters they are playing.

And this actually WORKS! It all makes sense because the author has a problem with reality; therefore, he reworks it through his fiction.

Judas, his main character, is an underground hero, so much so that a movie is being made of his life. Lask interacts with his characters, as do the actors hired to portray them. The cerebral journey blurs the line between creator and creation, as well as reality and revised reality.

If this sounds pretentious, it's not. Though the movie elevates Judas to the level of iconic legend, it does so with a wink. He and his quirky friends may be the subject of "talk show" interest, but the mundaneness and normalcy of their story is apparent. Thoroughly postmodern, the tale has simple heart at its core: since our lives rarely are what we wish them to be, sometimes we need to sustain our illusions in order to get by.

For those who enjoy the intellectualism, imagery and melancholy of works such as "The Royal Tenenbaums" or "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," this is a film worth checking out.

Buffet of excellence in movie making perhaps.

I saw this film in Columbia, MO and I honestly have to say that it's one of the most innovative independent films to come out in the past few years.

It's a beautifully crafted narrative that is overflowing with young talent. It seems like a really complex, trying-too-hard independent film, but it couldn't be further from that. It's actually a fun-loving hip comedy for the most part, with a solid love story going under the current.

It's reassuring that movies like this are still made. Movies that are this brave and unflinching in their vision are few and far between so you better see this while it's out since it will be a while until another movie like this comes out.

Oh how I haaated this movie for the first half hour! It begins with a mishmash of unrelated scenes, half a dozen actors switching roles without warning, and lots of mumbling non-sequitur banter that could've been the rejected lines from Pulp Fiction.

That's not what made me hate it, though. What made me hate it was the idea that the director seemed to be trying too hard for that "indie" feel: using lots of random, quirky images for the sake of being random and quirky. I swear I came this close to going home and watching reruns of The Partridge Family instead.

But somewhere after the half hour mark, a story starts to emerge. Several stories, actually. "On the Road with Judas" teases us with a crime story, a love story, a tale of friendship betrayal, and of course the story of a man who is rapidly losing his grip of reality. It is ultimately the last story that shines and makes this a great film.

The plot is basically irrelevant so I won't bother talking about that. Instead this becomes a film of philosophical depth, attacking the question of reality vs. fiction (truth vs. intentions) and the infinite conflict that falls on the poor sap who's in charge of it all.

If you've seen the excellent film "Synecdoche NY" which came out several months after "On the Road with Judas", you'll definitely notice many parallels between the two. Both films tell the story of a writer who is attempting to write about his own life as it happens. As real life and written pages become intertwined, the task becomes impossible, confusing, maddening.

Mixing reality and fiction in a film is tough for a filmmaker to do without totally losing the audience (which I think may have happened here, judging by IMDb's low rating of 4.3). Certainly it requires a lot more audience effort than your standard linear storyline. But many films have pulled it off, notably: "Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story", "American Splendor", "Beyond the Sea", "The Science of Sleep" and the aforementioned "Synecdoche NY". "On the Road with Judas" fits right in with the rest as a challenging yet ultimately rewarding experience for people who can bend their perceptions of reality. The ending is classic.

A final word about the soundtrack: nice! Being set in 1991-1993, the film features some interesting versions of songs by Depeche Mode "Enjoy the Silence", Modern English "Melt with You", and others plus some very nice classical sonatas such as Debussy's "Claire the Lune".

Overall, this is a very deep and powerful movie disguised as a "fun romp" (or whatever the dumb DVD cover says). If you can make it past the first half hour, I think you'll really enjoy it.