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drfugawe
Reviews
The Art of Travel (2008)
May Be Nicely Filmed, But It's Not for Travel Buffs!
I love travel, I love travel books and movies - this movie left me totally empty with disappointment at the end, which is significant, given that I was emotionally primed for acceptance. It simply fails on so many levels.
I think it deserves 3 stars for cinematography, but that's about it - one would think that the project crew should have been encouraged to rise to the level of the cinematography, but no. The screen writing has little continuity or meaningful base, and the directing displays no maturity - One envisions a long series of one-take scenes! The viewer is expected to believe that a gang of inexperienced trekkers is going to be able to slice through some of the world's most impenetrable terrain without incident - and cut a road in the process! Please. And someone should have given the gang a quick lesson in how one 'holds' a machete, much less how to use it properly - additionally, if this film is actually shot on location, why didn't they make the jungle environment of The Darien look difficult? Most of the shots of jungle terrain look more like a Florida backyard than impenetrable jungle - stuff like this takes the pleasure of viewing away quickly.
I note that a large number of reviewers here on IMDb saw this movie at one of the minor movie festivals in the U.S., and that their reviews are generally very favorable. I can only assume that these festivals -for the most part- show only minor independent films, among which films such as this compare very well - and surely the hype surrounding such a festival's best offerings must be significant! How else would you explain such generous praise for such a weak piece? This one deserves to be better - it's a shame it isn't.