The Royal Road

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

209

YOUR RATING

Official poster from The Royal Road, a film by Jenni Olson.

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Documentary History

A cinematic essay in defense of remembering, The Royal Road offers up a primer on the Spanish colonization of California and the Mexican American War alongside intimate reflections on nostal... Read allA cinematic essay in defense of remembering, The Royal Road offers up a primer on the Spanish colonization of California and the Mexican American War alongside intimate reflections on nostalgia, butch identity, the pursuit of unavailable women and Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo - all... Read allA cinematic essay in defense of remembering, The Royal Road offers up a primer on the Spanish colonization of California and the Mexican American War alongside intimate reflections on nostalgia, butch identity, the pursuit of unavailable women and Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo - all against a contemplative backdrop of 16mm urban California landscapes, and featuring a voi... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.7/10

209

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 wins & 1 nomination total

User reviews2

6.7209

Featured reviews

Kirpianuscus

great

A lesson of California - more exactly San Francisco - ,remind of American- Mexican war, references to classic movies, , confessions, beautiful hommage to nostalgia, a monotonous comentary but intense, and, in my case, the feeling about a sort of self confession .

It was a magnificent discover this documentary , admirable crafted from the veil of comentary, like jazz music in small pub in a week morning or very late evening to the images , recreating connection with places. A gem sounds maybe forced but ,n essence, it is the fair definition.

Beautiful, indeed, but , no doubts, useful in profound sense. So, difficult to be real the same after its final because its gift are not the stories about missionaries and wars ignored by Americans but about the courage , science and honesty to be exactly yourself.

8jtylerdeans

An impactful piece of art

The Royal Road is a captivating film. It delivers the beauty of San Francisco as known by its residents. The voiceover informs, critiques and honors the history of California while simultaneously providing access to the narrator's inner thoughts and musings.

I really enjoyed this film. Thanks Jenni!

***seen via Mubi***

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Storyline

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Quotes
Tony Kushner: Everything new is better than everything old. 'The bad new things instead of the good old things,' wrote that great dialectical playwright, poet and theorist Bertolt Brecht. I love the rigor of that challenge. To be able to risk the Satanic temptation and a retreat backwards towards what's easy, familiar and safe - the remembered past which is always misremembered. To always be on guard against nostalgia. To be able to see the future in the bad new things.
Jenni Olson: Aside from introducing the burden of Tony Kushner's disapproval into my life, this speech has prompted me to reflect at length and somewhat obsessively, on my aversion to the bad new things and my affection for the old. To this day, I suffer from a compulsion to defend my overly intense attachment to the past.