Road to Nowhere (2011)

These days, American films which attract 'serious' critical attention tend to appear in a blaze of publicity, and are usually forgotten by the time the next self-declared 'masterpiece' is ready for consumption. Monte Hellman's ROAD TO NOWHERE took a different approach, quietly opening in a handful of US cinemas before being released on DVD. Yet in years to come, this will surely be regarded as the defining film of its era. Indeed, it may well be the LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD of our generation: an endlessly fascinating puzzle which resists easy comprehension, and whose solution, like Gatsby's green light, constantly "recedes before us," leaving us with the hope that "tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And then one fine morning—." For this is a cinematic masterpiece in a peculiarly American tradition: one that refuses to sit down and behave, but instead wanders restlessly in several directions, accruing, like Melville's White Whale, a range of possible meanings without ever definitively committing itself to any of them. This is not a film to be watched once and dismissed, but rather a work of art to live with, one that - like VERTIGO and CITIZEN KANE - should be returned to periodically in the hope not of finding the key to the Borgesian labyrinth, but rather of better comprehending the labyrinth's nature.

Road to Nowhere is auteur director Monte Hellman's first film in 21 years and is a breathtaking return to cinema. The film premiered in competition at the 67th Venice Int' Film Festival and won the Jury Award Special Lion for Career Achievement. This recognition is a testament to the quality of the film as well as the genius of the filmmaker behind it. The film also features a terrific cameo from legendary film actor Fabio Testi. I look forward to many more films from Hellman in the future. His latest project is 'Love or Die', which is scheduled to commence shooting in Lisbon in March 2014. He is truly one of the greatest film directors in the history of American film.William Anderson

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

Monte Hellman remains one of America's greatest living filmmakers, director of metaphysical classics like TWO-LANE BLACKTOP (1971), arguably the ultimate American Road Movie, COCKFIGHTER (1974) and a handful of others. Like the masterful Spanish filmmaker Victor Erice (whose classic THE SPIRIT OF THE BEEHIVE Hellman gives a nod to in ROAD TO NOWHERE), it's something of a crime that Hellman has directed as few films as he has. So there's great reason to celebrate with the arrival of ROAD TO NOWHERE, his first full feature in over 20 years. Hellman being who he is, ROAD TO NOWHERE is as dense, poetic and mysterious as anything he's made since probably THE SHOOTING in 1968. In fact, his new film is likely his most challenging ever -- but that shouldn't put you off. On the surface, it's the story of a real-life murder-suicide connected to a Southern politician -- a mystery which gets inextricably entangled with the making of a film about the tragedy directed by a moody, obsessive filmmaker (Tygh Runyan, who also played the moody, obsessive Stanley Kubrick in Hellman's "Stanley's Girlfriend") and starring a beautiful, opaque actress (Shannyn Sossamon, in easily her strongest and most rewarding performance to date). Add to this an almost infinite rogue's gallery of characters including veteran actors Cliff De Young and John Diehl, a wry extended cameo from Italian pulp cinema icon Fabio Testi (from Hellman's CHINA 9, LIBERTY 37) -- and you have the strangest Hall of Mirrors this side of THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI. If you struggle to make "sense" of the plot, you'll probably miss the point -- since one of the major themes that emerges in ROAD TO NOWHERE is the impossibility of ever making sense of anything. (Hence the title: the Road leads Nowhere, but that shouldn't stop you from taking the journey.) Hellman uses a similar narrative strategy as in his classic TWO-LANE BLACKTOP where about halfway through the story the actual race stops mattering. In ROAD TO NOWHERE, the question of who committed the murder (or whether there was a murder at all) slowly drifts away in a Sargasso Sea of false leads, flashbacks and unanswered questions. What's left is Hellman's portrait of monstrous artistic obsession and some of his most intense and erotically-charged filmmaking ever, played out in long, lingering scenes between Sossamon and Runyan. There's also a bit of M.C. Escher here, like walking up a staircase only to find yourself at the bottom of another staircase, and another ... If you're looking for an easy ride, then you should probably look elsewhere. But if you want to wander off-road, into the mysterious and inexplicable Zone (to quote from Tarkovsky's STALKER) where nothing is as it seems -- then Monte Hellman's ROAD TO NOWHERE is for you.