Interstate 60: Episodes of the Road (2003)

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Interstate 60 – The Final Frontier?

Throughout the film runs the theme that culture and even human progression stagnates when we run out of frontiers to explore and develop and so the mystical Interstate 60 fills this void in the world, a mysterious state of mind populated by the last remnants of social pioneers, practical jokers, and unpopular political extremists all branching off into the unknown to build something in their own vision. Through the eyes of Neil Oliver we are granted witness to the Interstate and the places united by it, each with its own response to dealing with the struggles of the modern world whether they be escaping, defining, or protecting their place in life. 

While not exactly spoiler heavy this article does present information about the film’s events and whereabouts in some detail. I would strongly advise viewing the movie before reading the following.

Banton
The town of Banton becomes Neil’s first unplanned stopped along the scenic and surreal Interstate 60 as he halts to aid the request of a frantic hitchhiker in search of her adolescent son who has assuredly run off to Banton. The reasons why become clearer as Neil draws closer to the town and is met by the multiple health alerts warning visitors about the dangers of drug use as well as advertising the substance “Euphoria”. Euphoria, the most powerfully addictive and affordable drug in the world, made and distributed exclusively within the town of Banton. 

Seeking to slay the town’s crippling drug problems the local government manufactured the enticing yellow powder and made it more affordable than any of its competitors effectively crippling the use of illegal narcotics whilst also providing the town with an enormous populace of Euphoria addicts who were willing to commit themselves into servitude in return for a consistent supply of the drug.

The entire town is tended to by a workforce of addicted youths all contractually enslaved for the rest of their lives and with a finder’s fee rewarded to any who bring new addicts into town and the legal age limit in Banton lowered to sixteen, the workforce grows constantly. So powerful is Euphoria’s grasp over its users that it stifles the sex drive, dilutes violent tendencies, and eliminates all physical cravings except the need for more Euphoria. The withdrawal symptoms are so intense that they almost guarantee death assuring the complete compliance of all addicts until their life expires.

As the local law enforcements says “Some folks just wanna get high, so we came up with a radical solution”
 

Renburg
Renburg is home to infamous yet obscure Museum of Art Fraud; the world’s greatest art gallery masquerading as a cheap tourist trap. Within the walls of this rustic building are copious reproductions of priceless and world famous artworks by the likes of such noted artists as Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas. The catch is, they’re all real.

As the curator Mrs. James explains to Neil, her late husband and museum founder Oscar Warren James had created a method of reproducing fine artworks on almost a molecular level resulting in near perfect copies only distinguishable by the creators themselves. In many cases the late Mr. James would borrow these world renowned paintings from art dealers and museums, copy them, and then send his copies back to their owners and keep the originals.

This may all sound like greed and deception for the purpose of somebody’s own gain but the Museum of Art Fraud’s illusory facade serves a different and more playful purpose; exposing critics as frauds. Famed art critics are invited to the museum in droves to behold and critique the collection of ‘affordable reproductions’ which are said to be created based on the originals by Mrs. James’ nephew Edward and sold for the affordable price of only three hundred dollars each. Sure enough what follows is an intentionally harsh and mercilessly painful dissection of each artwork whilst each critic is blissfully unaware that they are in fact discourteously slighting the original.

The charade is executed flawlessly; the museum is yet to have sold a single painting.
 

Morlaw
If you’ve ever found yourself laughing at a joke like “What do you call a boatload of Lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?” then you’d most certainly cry at the sight of Morlaw; the town populated by attorneys.

Every adult citizen in Morlaw is a lawyer fully licensed to practice, terrifying right? The entire town runs on the principle that everybody is constantly suing everybody else for defamatory or even nonsensical reasons and this constant flood of legal action fuels the economy and provides each citizen with a justification for their chosen legal profession. The immediate downside to this is that tourists and even people passing through the town are often sued or subpoenaed thereby forcibly trapping themselves in the broken machine of Morlaw’s legal system.

It’s these unfortunate souls who are responsible for the actual upkeep of the town as every aspect of the way Morlaw conducts its business is mired red tape and bureaucracy so those awaiting litigation are responsible for cleaning the streets, fixing the plumbing, running the grocery store etc. as they are almost always forced to get jobs to pay for their enormous weight of legal fees and usually called upon to provide character witnesses to their trials which immediately ensnares their loved ones and mutual benefactors in Morlaw’s legal debacle. The cycle continues. 

Deleted Scene Synopsis

• While working the night shift filling shipping containers Neil seeks the wisdom 
  of two co-workers, one of which demeans him and reaffirms the ideal that
  
  high school prepares you for life in the sense that every institution in society is essentially another class system, the other who imposes the importance of chance and having the courage to follow something despite the tribulations involved. This scene was included in the theatrical release for region 4.
  
  
  
  
  
• During the scene in which Neil visits his father at his office there is a missing conversation in which Daniel Oliver tries to convince
  
  Neil to take up a law fellowship because, while it might look noble to live as a starving artist, it is better to view yourself as an artist yet still allow the outside world to pigeon hole you as a successful attorney. Take it to the bank!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Seeking maps and information about the illusive Interstate 60, Neil pays a visit to a Triple A adviser who explains that the only
  
  southbound Interstates were 40 and 70, and if there were an Interstate 60 in existence that it would fall somewhere in between. This scene was included in the theatrical release for region 4.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• A waitress in a bar tells Neil a fable about O.W. Grant involving a wager over a man consuming large quantities of alcohol in a brief
  
  time without throwing up or urinating and owing his strange ability for consumption to a wish he'd made as a younger man. Neil witnesses a similar occurrence later in the film when he meets Hal at the diner.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• When Neil discovers the Interstate and beings his journey he receives a call on his BMW's car phone but declines to answer it under
  
  the principle that maintaining one's freedom in the twenty first century meant isolating yourself from means of communication and that undergoing his journey on the Interstate would be his ultimate act of Freedom.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• During the arrest scene in Banton when Susanne asks Neil to decide whether she stays with her son and becomes an addict, Neil
  
  recounts a tale about his own grandmother's heart breaking battle with dementia and makes mention that he cherished their remaining time together and would always remember it even if she did not.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• After waking up in the hospital for the second time and unsure whether his experience was a dream, Neil decides to break up with 
  
  his pot smoking psycho-analyst girlfriend Sally who uncharacteristically turns nasty and slanders him for being a hopeless loser who is disconnected from his place and time.