254 minutes / Color
Closed Captioned
Release: 1990
Copyright: 1989
Restored and digitized with the support of the Centre National du Cinema (CNC).
Icarus Films On Demand: Navigate to watch Part One & Part Two.
“A thin stretch of asphalt cutting through all the old dreams of a nation.” –Robert Kramer
In 1988, after years living abroad, renegade filmmaker Robert Kramer returns. “Back,” he emphasizes. Not “home.” To try to understand the country as it is, he decides to travel the entire length of Route 1, from the Canadian border to Key West, filming all the way. His companion on the trip is Doc—ostensibly Kramer’s friend, a brooding physician back after a harrowing decade working in Africa. But in fact, he’s a fictional character played by actor Paul McIsaac, a compassionate man who readily engages those he meets, from business owners, to factory workers and to army recruits.
For a road movie, ROUTE ONE/USA features few shots of the open road itself. Instead, we are treated to a series of stops along the way—an Indian reserve in Maine, Walden Pond, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC, a Georgia diner, Thanksgiving dinner at a homeless shelter, and evangelical churches that preach the “truth” about the anti-apartheid movement and the dangers of Disney. There are plenty of characters along the way too, and appearances by televangelist Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson, as they campaign for president.
It’s not just the people who make the film though. Kramer has an extraordinary eye for people, patterns, and industrial processes (you’ll never look at Monopoly or tinned sardines the same way again), and his visuals shine through in this beautifully restored edition.
Though shot decades ago, ROUTE ONE/USA feels remarkably contemporary in its portrayal of many of the racial, social, and economic challenges America continues to face.
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About the DVD: The DVD release is a 2-disc set and includes a video by Paul McIsaac and an 8 page booklet with an essay by Peter Gessner.
About the Blu-ray: The Blu-ray release is a 2-disc set and includes bonus film LOOKING FOR ROBERT by Richard Copans and a 12-page booklet with an essay by Erika Balsom. Visit VinegarSyndrome.com to purchase this release.
“Endlessly fascinating. An extraordinary, fluidly shaped mosaic of the fragmented pockets of American life that together compose the mainstream.” —The New York Times
“[Invests creative energy] in discovering the rhymes and rhythms of American life.” —The Village Voice
“On the edge of documentary and fiction. By the late ’60s, the liminal space between these two cinematic realms was fertile ground for exploration, and Kramer was at the vanguard.” —ArtForum
“The central concern of Robert Kramer’s cinema—how to reconcile the personal and the political, or in other words, how to live a meaningful life—is a timeless one.” —Los Angeles Times
"Kramer and McIsaac find people persisting despite it all, an unwavering and infectious will to live." —Splice Today
Select Accolades
A retrospective of filmmaker Robert Kramer’s work and a moving biography of a friendship, directed and narrated by his longtime cinematographer.
Richard Copans | 2025 | 74 minutes | Color | French; English | English subtitles | Closed Captioned
Part 1. A journey along Route 1, from Maine to Miami, yields a rich tapestry of American life.
Robert Kramer | 1990 | 125 minutes | Color | English | Closed Captioned
Part 2. A journey along Route 1, from Maine to Miami, yields a rich tapestry of American life.
Robert Kramer | 1990 | 129 minutes | Color | English | Closed Captioned
