On The Path (2010)

The career of Lou Reed defies capsule summarization. Like David Bowie (whom Reed directly inspired in many ways), he has made over his image many times, mutating from theatrical glam rocker to scary-looking junkie to avant-garde noiseman to straight rock & roller to your average guy. A firmer grasp of rock's earthier qualities has ensured a more consistent career path than Bowie's, particularly in his latter years. Yet his catalog is extremely inconsistent, in both quality and stylistic orientation. Liking one Lou Reed LP, or several, or all of the ones he did in a particular era, is no guarantee that you'll like all of them, or even most of them. Few would deny Reed's immense importance and considerable achievements, however. As has often been written, he expanded the vocabulary of rock & roll lyrics into the previously forbidden territory of kinky sex, drug use (and abuse), decadence, transvestites, homosexuality, and suicidal depression.

American doctor arrives in the French Pyrenees in order to pick up the remains of his son, who died in a storm at the beginning of the pilgrimage on the Way of St. James (The Camino de Santiago). Driven by the deepest sorrow and a desire to know better the victim's son, with whom he had long since there was no understanding, he decides to walk this path for his son, leaving behind its landscaped measured life in California. With a backpack and guide his son, the protagonist goes on a pilgrimage, 800 km from the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela in northern Spain, but soon discovers that he is not one passes this way….