A pair of classics

Late to the game as usual, I just read the Road. It's an astounding book, rarely have I been so gripped. I read it far too quickly and will have to read it again to fully digest it. This was a natural follow on to No Country For Old Men. In that book, the main character lamented the shift to a darker more violent world unfit for old men. The post-apocalyptic world of the Road isn't fit for anyone, populated, so it seems, only with the cruel.

McCarthy's descriptive power serves him well, as he paints a destroyed world lit only by the thinnest of hopes. There is a strong sense of the Biblical in the book with the main character (spoiler alert) serving as Moses. Parents may feel the book hits too close to home, but the father-son element just bound me closer to the story.

I recently mentioned to a friend that I thought Ingmar Bergman was over-rated. She tut-tuted and told me I needed to see the Virgin Spring. So I did, and she is right. The film, a story of innocence, vengeance and redemption is beautiful and bleak. The emotional power of the film is great, which makes the blasphemous remake Last House on the Left look like the warm bowl of piss that it is.