Reviewed by Elliot V. Kotek
(from the 2008 Palm Springs International Film Festival Director: Thomas Whelan
Writers: Brian LaBelle, Thomas Whelan
Starring: Christopher Kennedy Masterson, Brooke Burns, Johnny Messner, James Duval, Shalim Ortiz, Jake Muxworthy, Angelika Baran, Maria Conchita Alonso and Bijou Philips In a year when Into the Wild almost perfected the art of travel and self-sacrifice, and when Turistas scared up enough cheap thrills to keep college kids out of rural Brazil and glued to a roster of re-runs on cable, The Art of Travel has, in its own way, charmed the festival audience of Palm Springs International with a sensible $2 million budget, impressive but intermittent vistas of Central and South America, exceptionally beautiful actresses, and a meaningful message of cultural exploration and acceptance. Like most treks, the early going is tough, and Art is tougher on its audience than most, forcing viewers to travel past the film's awful opening minutes (bad drunks, unrealistic conversations, unbearable music), and to climb over Chris Masterson's well-reported resemblance to the more-gifted Neil Patrick Harris while he pulls a "Luke Perry" as a 27-year-old portraying the teen-aged Connor Payne. However, upon reaching the moment when Payne has been burned by his fiancée, bested by his brother, robbed blind and accepts his fate to join a band of adrenaline-junkie backpackers on their trek through the Darién Gap, you feel the young filmmakers of The Art of Travel find their ground - and their aesthetically pleasing adventure begins. With Johnny Messner, Brooke Burns, Angelika Baran and others on board for the 125-mile jungle crossing (completed by fewer people than have reached the pinnacle of Everest), the movie does well not to fall down the trap of testing the travelers at every turn, truly marking the film's territory as a travel movie rather than the adventure film or horror tale with which Messner is more often associated (Tears of the Sun, Hostage, Anacondas). Shot on location in the jungles of Panama, the middle section of this cinematic voyage could, in fact, have suckered in the cinema audience by taking more screen time to visually represent the jungle's harsh beauty but chooses, instead, to focus on the unlikely friendships forged, the fun sense of gamesmanship and the spirit of camaraderie so indicative of the art of travel. The beauty of the occasional aerial shots tease the audience throughout and - as if it, itself, is learning from the voyage - the lensing improves as the travels progress. Despite the many questions left unanswered and unrealized, The Art of Travel is a promising base camp from which the director can only grow. Whelan leaves us with a sense of Payne's wanderlust; with a better editor and scoring support, he'll find the right directions to enable emotions to accompany him on his adventures. |
