On The Road | Dir: David Pablos
Jack Kerouac’s On the Road was published in 1951, and is Benzedrine-fuelled Beat Generation classic of an era when the young thumbed their noses at postwar middle-class America and sought truth on the country’s highways and byways.
This film by Mexican writer / director David Pablos is not based on Kerouac’s work, but it does take the viewer onto the endless highways through desolate Mexican landscapes, where the protagonists make self-discoveries.
The film follows of two men, who haven’t made great decisions in their lives, and their time together on the road becomes a suspenseful thriller into increasingly dangerous situations. The film actually opens with one of the men getting petrol poured over his kneeling body, in anticipation of being set on fire.
This is Veneno (Victor Prieto) who is in his early twenties. Beaten and expelled from his home for being “a fag”, he has a marginal existence of hitching rides along the roads, providing drugs and sexual favours to lonely truckers.
Muñeco (Osvaldo Sanchez) offers Veneno a ride after another trucker abandons him at one of the roadhouses. In the hyper-masculine world of professional long-haul drivers, Muñeco seems to be more compassionate.
Middle-aged Muñeco has a wife and children he rarely sees, and he has no problem with Veneno’s sexuality or way of life. Staying awake on alcohol and drugs, he hadn’t slept for a week when he picked up Veneno.
The weary trucker didn’t realize that he had collected a whole lot of trouble along with his hitch-hiker and, when the two men become close, Muñeco has to struggle with his new-found emotions to do the ‘right thing’.
Winning the Queer Lion and the Horizons Competition for emerging filmmakers and their innovative work at the Venice International Film Festival, this steamy film is full of sex and desperation.
There are only two chances to see this queer thriller – on Friday 10 July and Friday 17 July at Luna Cinema, Leederville – as part of the Revelation Perth International Film Festival. The screenings are being presented by OUTinPerth. Ahead of the feature the short film Homo from Australian filmmaker Vonne Patiag will also be shown.
Lezly Herbert
