I’m not a Jack Kerouac freak. I’ve read On The Road, but it was far too late in my life to be impactful. I should have hit it when I was 16 and had a youthful fantasy for mindless traveling. Instead, as a “jaded” 20-year-old college student, I picked up Kerouac’s work for the first time. Though his classic book didn’t shake me, I saw for the first time what all the fuss was about. When it was published in 1957, his love for the open road and unbridled sense of adventure was a novel concept. Now its in the heart of every American teenager that hates the town that they grew up in. Just as modern consumers of emo can’t fully appreciate the music of Mineral, I don’t completely “get” where Kerouac was coming from. Even so, I thoroughly enjoy stirring up the emotions that he once authentically evoked and have been an unconscious consumer of its commercial byproducts ever since.
One Fast Move Or I’m Gone: Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur is a documentary about Kerouac’s trip to a secluded cabin at Big Sur, which is near Bixby Canyon in northern California. The trip was to be a purging of the, depression, misery, and shallow relationships that came as an unwanted repercussion to On The Road‘s commercial success. He planned on staying by himself in a cabin with no electricity or running water for three weeks. While at the cabin he penned Big Sur, the book that offered a glimpse into the author’s mental instability and alcoholism.
A few months ago, I wrote a scathing review of this film’s soundtrack, which was written and performed by Ben Gibbard and Jay Farrar. I ended the review with the following line:
“I’m interested in seeing the film (it’s on the Netflix queue) and analyzing the soundtrack in that context. Maybe I’ll be a bit more generous.”
I’m not ready to write a retraction, but I was completely ignorant of the intention of the music. At the time, I had no idea that the soundtrack was perfectly paired with the film and made a tremendous amount of sense in its proper context. I still hold to the fact, however, the the soundtrack does not function independently as an album.
The film was beautiful and gripping. Though I had never read Big Sur, I was able to see why people were are moved by a horrendously painful book that explores the demons of an alcoholic’s rock bottom. The cinematography spoke volumes about the utter desperation that he was suffering. The film’s story and pacing was perfected and scrutinized over. The writing, though mostly made up of the text of Big Sur, was done in a way that offered literary criticism and insight without being weighed down by too much interjection. The directors allowed the book to speak for itself and only subtlety aided the viewer in understanding it in its proper context.
My only problem with the film was that some of the contributers really got on my nerves. The first was a stoned hippie who was playing pool (Want to lost credibility? Get a hippie to talk nonsense in your documentary). The second was a girl who couldn’t have been older than 25 who acted like she and “Jack” (apparently they were on a first-name basis) were best friends that went way back. More noteworthy interviews came from Tom Waits, Ben Gibbard, the guy that played Artie on The Sopranos (who also narrated).
Other than a slight lack of oversight when choosing contributers, the film was extremely successful. You don’t even have to like Jack Kerouac to enjoy it. Just to give you a heads up, there is a good chance that this One Fast Move Or I’m Gone will cause you to accidently fall in love with him and make you pretend like its 1957 and you are experiencing something new.
(8.5/10)
If the music of Dan Deacon changed your life: 6/10
If you’ve ever written “Road Trip Mix” on the face of a CD: 9/10
View the trailer:
