Driven cinema: Two-lane Blacktop

It’s the early 1970s, and the future looms like an empty, haunted freeway waiting to be explored. Starring Dennis Wilson (The Beach Boys) and James Taylor, this existential road movie follows two street-racing drifters seeking their destiny in a film that Time Magazine described as:

“Immaculately crafted, funny and quite beautiful, resonant with a lingering mood of loss and loneliness. Not a single frame in the film is wasted. Even the small touches — the languid tension while refueling at a back-country gas station or the piercing sound of an ignition buzzer — have their own intricate worth.”

Director: Monet Hellman 1971

Friday 9 January 2026

State Library of Queensland, Auditorium 1

Doors open 6:45 pm, film starts 7 pm

Rating: MA (Mature audiences)

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

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Host or Publisher State Library of Queensland