Road to Nowhere

Monte Hellman proves with Road to Nowhere that he is the Shaolin master of directing. His Kung Fu is indeed strong and apparently getting stronger every day. When Road to Nowhere was awarded the Special Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, jury president Quentin Tarantino introduced Hellman as "both a great cinematic artist and a minimalist poet." This verbal sketch captures his likeness brilliantly in my opinion, for Hellman is truly the master of "the art of fighting without fighting." This refers to his self-proclaimed aesthetic that "directing should be invisible - don't direct - don't act" and "the director's job, after casting which is like 99% of the job, is to ferociously eliminate anything that doesn't advance the story or that takes the audience out of the story". This is the Tao of Monte Hellman and why he remains Hollywood's Invisible Man in spite of his great talent. True to form, Road to Nowhere is not a film that draws attention to itself. It is not showy or pretentious. The acting is so natural, realistic, and effortless that were it not for the spectacular HD cinematography one might think he was watching a documentary. All considered, though unfortunate, it is understandable that audiences might choose to overlook this amazing film. But I sincerely hope they do not. Because the viewing of it just might change the way they look at cinema forever. Sincerely, Captain Plasma