Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

XoWizIama Excellent adaptation.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

n-mo I can't say that watching this film was an altogether disagreeable experience. However, the plot (to the extent that it has one at least) doesn't hold up very well under critical scrutiny. On the one hand, the outlandishness, implausibility and excess of Conner's particular adventures remind me of a script I would have concocted at age 17. On the other hand, the adventure is lived with a consciousness of setting that I don't remember having until I was about 20, at which point I had almost or entirely outgrown my old naivety about how sequential events actually unfold.Let's start with the suspension of disbelief. In the 2000s, it is exceedingly rare to marry immediately out of high school, and even rarer to be so affluent that one can simply depart on an extended gap year with no strings attached. No explanation is offered or even hinted at. Conner's family is certainly "cool," but so "cool" and "prog" that they'll open the purse strings at his beck and call, with no quid pro quo? I don't think a guy raised by parents like that would be so cool, calm and self-confident at 18. In fact, I am sure he would NOT be, and would have a difficult time being anything but a spoiled rotten brat for the rest of his life. Yet the film offers no hint of irony or self-awareness regarding this improbable setup: the authors seem to have been determined to tell a story THIS WAY and either not thought or not cared about whether the elements fit together. It's frankly just a sloppy approach to narration. But if you can get past that initial roadblock, you'll find yourself reliving your wildest adventures and fantasies along with Conner, skipping (and sleeping) his way barefoot and fancy-free through Central America until he accepts, on a whim, a proposition to cross the Darién Gap into South America. If you know anything about this and have ever contemplated the full length of the Pan-American Highway you'll be eager for a glimpse into what such a crossing must be like. The film does not disappoint...... until it starts to turn to philosophizing. Depending on how you read it, 18-year-old Conner's thoughts on and co-opting of selective FARC (the narco-terrorist left-wing paramilitary that's been wrecking havoc through Colombia for decades) ideas are either every bit as eye-rolling and ridiculous as the commercialized "Che" t-shirts that litter Marxist-nostalgic hipster neighborhoods such as the East End in London and Bataclan in Paris, or a clever but improbable cynical subversion: improbable both that it would occur to a newly-minted suburbanite American man just now discovering international travel do to so, and that he would actually accomplish his ulterior ends in so doing. (Guerrilla fighters are not exactly known for reasonable negotiation, and it's more than a little aggravating to see yet another attempt to inject them nonchalantly as "moral romantics" into "mainstream" popular culture.)The ending, with the incoherent and melodramatic decision to make a sacrifice in order to pursue a dream, wasn't exactly improbable: 18-year-olds certainly can be melodramatic, but it wasn't consistent with what was suggested about the character's maturity earlier on. There was no hint anywhere in the film that the art of travel had to be read out in the way he decided to pursue it and not in the other way that was being offered as the "catch." So there we leave him to the rest of his adventure, ever so slightly annoyed at his self-imposed martyrdom and with the vague sense that, as far as he's come geographically, the film hasn't really taken us anywhere in particular. It's rather unsatisfying.On the other hand, perhaps that's a kind of statement about this sort of libertine carefree bonanza: as "fun" as it might be it really doesn't move one or one's life forward.Meh... nah, I think it's just sloppy writing. Although I will admit, you could do a lot worse. You could do a lot BETTER, too. But worse is more likely.

mnoutside This movie really captures the feeling of itinerary free travel. I tried to watch it again on Netflix but they had removed it from streaming video's so I bought the DVD. I will put this in my library at our camp on Lake Kabetogama-lakekabetogama.org Travel in Mexico and Central America with great scenery, the Darién Gap, a large swath of undeveloped swampland and forest separating Panama's Darién Province in Central America from Colombia in South America is a route I've always wanted to travel with my Jeep Cherokee, but since I'll never make the trip I guess this is as close as I'll get. Efforts have been made for decades to remedy this missing link, The Gap in the Pan-American highway. Planning began in 1971 with the help of United States funding, but this was halted in 1974 after concerns raised by environmentalists. Another effort to build the road began in 1992, but by 1994 a United Nations agency reported that it would cause extensive environmental damage. The claim is there is evidence that the Darién Gap has prevented the spread of diseased cattle into Central and North America, which have not seen foot and mouth disease since 1954, and since at least the 1970s this has been a substantial factor in preventing a road link through the Darién Gap. Great movie!

gearoid-mccarthy Had googled 'great travel movies' before I watched this, and must admit that it has been a long time since I was that disappointed. I will not employ tired similes in this review (such as 'it has as much depth as a well-splashed puddle') but rarely have I seen a movie - with so much potential to be engaging - being so unengaging. All the characters overacted, so I was left midway through wondering whether this was meant to be a farce or a philosophical 'find yourself' film. Masterson's character annoyed me so much that had I encountered him on his central/south American odyssey, I would have slapped him to the deepest reaches of Patagonia. While there was some redemption in the cinematography, the overall premise of this movie was constructed with incredulous naivety and could just very well turn you against backpackers or put you off your next jaunt to Machu Picchu

Chrysanthepop 'The Art of Travel' starts off on a promising note. I was under the impression that it was going to be a comedy travel-mockumentary. Even though the wedding sequence was over-the-top (such as Connor leaving photos under every guest's seat), it was funny. After that, begins his trip through South America. Though there are some clichés here, the humour is well maintained until the Darien Gap track.Here the film takes a different turn. The pace slows down. The dialogues try to be philosophical but they end up only being one cliché after another. Once the sequence is over, the pace picks up but the film heads towards no particular direction except for a predictable conclusion. There is a funny little surprise twist in the end.The cinematography is quite good. It beautifully captures the stunning South American landscapes. I also liked the whimsical soundtrack as it adds some charm.The acting is decent. It's too bad that some of the actors are given poor lines to deliver. I thought the casting of Angelika Libera was a bit odd considering that the Anna character was a Czech girl and Libera talks with an accent that does not sound the least bit Czech. Her performance is otherwise very good.'The Art of Travel' could have been an excellent entertaining travel-mockumentary had it stayed focused on the travel aspect of the story and avoided stereotype.