River's Edge

Less Than Zero could have been the 80s movie that reveals teenage apathy in its most extreme form had they actually stuck to the damn book. But, where they hadn't, this movie presents does the job, and leaves you with the creepiest feeling when its all over in ways not done until the late nineties with Larry Clark's movies 'Kids' and 'Bully.'

Societal outcast teens are faced with a rather curious dilemma (they don't treat it much like one) when their estranged friend (Daniel Roebuck) boasts to them that he killed a teenage girl near the river's edge in their suburban town. Keanu Reeves may be the only civilized character among the bunch, the only one willing to exhibit any sort of conscience, anyway, while the others either don't do anything about the girl's death or want to help their friend hide the body.

I don't know who is more sick in this film--Crispin Glover--who becomes nearly obsessed and quite paternal in trying to protect the friend and hide the crime by smuggling him out of the state. Dennis Hopper, an on-edge drug dealer (who clings to a female blowup doll) that befriends the teens (as a dealer, of course) and suddenly becomes involved in the events. Or, Josh Miller, who plays Reeve's little brother, Tim. He appears to be the most apathetic of them all, at least until his emotional breakdown at the end. It is definitely not peppy 80s teen fare, obviously. And certainly makes the point strikingly clear about the serious detachment these kids deal with (despite a bizarre series of events) thanks to many great performances all around (even Reeves proved some acting capability).

Help yourself to a comedy to recover if it rocks you too hard.

"River's Edge" (1986) was based on a true story that took place in 1981: a high school student murders his girlfriend and tells his friends at school about it; the group goes to view the body in the woods but they're so apathetic and spiritually bereft that no one informs the authorities and the body just lies there for a couple of days. Daniel Roebuck plays the lumbering murderer and his clueless friends are played by Keanu Reeves, Crispin Glover and Ione Skye, amongst others; Dennis Hopper is on hand as an aged biker/hippie.

What struck me about the film was how much it reminded me of real life experiences, both as a youth growing up and also as an adult dealing with youths. Here are some of the things in the movie that I've also experienced:

• Kids as young as 11-13 obsessed with "partying." - The idolization of drugs (pot, pills, etc.) and the party lifestyle above all else. - Kids, that young and older, out all night doing whatever (partying, having sex, crime). - Parents who aren't much more than phantoms in their kid's lives and therefore allow such. - Older, crazy dudes that the youths sometimes hang with, get drugs from or look up to. - The group dynamics of such youths and the unwritten law of not being a "narc." - Killing a friend and leaving the body where it lies for a couple of days.

This was (and is) the downside of the 60's revolution -- a somewhat sad emptiness in people who have lost their innate moral compass with the passing of religious faith as they desperately search for meaning or cause in the new secular frontier (Layne's "cause" in the film is rigid loyalty to John, since he had "his reasons" for murdering the girl, and covering up his crime). Most of the characters are neither likable nor unlikable; they're just human beings trying to live and find meaning or fulfillment with the hand they've been dealt.

The film runs 99 minutes and was shot in California (Sacramento, La Crescenta and Los Angeles).

BOTTOM LINE: Glover steals the show with an over-the-top (yet believable) performance in a film that details the dark side of coming-of-age in modern America. It plays like a mid-80's version of Coppola's "The Outsiders" (1983), which was about early 60's youths; note, for instance, the seemingly incongruent melodramatic score (there's also a great metal soundtrack, but the songs are merely soundbites). People who have grown up in loving homes with positive role models & friends probably won't like "River's Edge." They'll likely think it's trash. However, those who grew up in the dysfunctional insanity depicted in the film understand it fully. And many of us are doing everything in our power to prevent our kids and other youths from experiencing it.

GRADE: B+

"River's Edge" is a very perplexing movie. The most striking feature of the movie seems to be the universally apathetic characters. In the opening sequence we learn that Samson, a very large, uncontrollable teenager has killed Jamie, a member of his group of stoner friends from school, and left her naked body by the river's edge.

While there are many movies about heartless killers, Samson is fully realized, such as he is, and I was struck by the utter lack of any rime or reason to his actions, any "Hollywood" touches to humanize him or explain what he did. He killed a girl and really doesn't care. There was no planning, before or after, no moralizing, at most he is amused by it.

Samson (also called John because of his last name) tells his friends, who display apathy that might be shocking. The only one who seems to care is Layne (Crispin Glover) who wants to cover it up so his friend doesn't get arrested and executed. But the rest don't really seem too shaken by it, they don't get mad at John, they even justify his actions, and they certainly don't go to the police right away.

River's Edge works because there is no clear message. I'm sure many people can find one in it, but it's definitely not a movie that hits you over the head with some moral. It presents some very strangely behaving people, who are often over the top but depicted with just enough realism that you have to take what is going on seriously. The fun in this movie is that you get to float around in this shockingly apathetic teenage wasteland for an hour and a half, and see what you can make of it.

The main problem I had with the movie was the direction and soundtrack, which coincide to create awkward transitions and moments where "River's Edge" feels like a crappy low-budget flick you'd find being mocked on MST3K. None of the dialogue or plot falls into that category, but it's the transitions between scenes, where they often just kind of end unimpressive and cut to the next one.

The soundtrack also kept drawing me away from the movie. It includes some edgy metal for 1986, which is perfectly fine for the movie, but it doesn't do much with it, and instead most of the music is an orchestral soundtrack. Parts of it are very atmospheric and perfect for the movie's feel, but at other times it is hitting cliché film score notes during tense scenes and really seeming quite cheesy. I contrasted this movie with "Picnic at Hanging Rock", a spiritual cousin of "River's Edge" I would say, where the score was so utterly perfect at always building the mood, and really think River's Edge could have been an incredible movie with a score that consistent.

River's Edge isn't perfect. I had honestly never even heard of it until I saw it mentioned as a superior film with the same basic themes as "Bully" by Larry Clark. I am very glad I rented it, and am a bit surprised I'd never heard of it. It deserves to be better known. It has some flaws and not everyone will like it, but there is a lot of depth here, and of course its cast includes several famous people in early or debut roles.

I can remember a college professor commenting as to how disturbing this film was, reflecting the apathy of adolescents (this was before Generation "X").

In a way, most of us are products of the same consumer culture; these high school kids spend their time drinking, getting high and wondering what to do about the body left on a riverbank.

What would they do today? Would things be different?. Some very important questions. There are some excellent scenes with Keanu Reeves, and the dysfunctional family he lives with; his 11 year old brother going out to get wasted; the mother has no idea what to do- spends her time drinking with her boyfriend.

This film was a bit before its time in that it addresses the problems in lower class American society; these kids had no outlet; what is available for them in this dirt-water town? . All in all a few interesting social commentaries are presented, and there are no solutions. 9/10.

Although the movie begins with a crime on the river's edge ,the film is not really a detective story,not a thriller.It is rather a chronicle of the lives and times of a bunch of high school students ,not particularly brilliant.The milieu in which they're nurtured is not particularly appealing:the scene when the mother screams that she would never have had children if she had had the choice is desperate to a fault.There's an interesting parallel between DEnnis Hopper's doll ,the young sister's one and ...the criminal's one.No actor overacts so the movie can be depicted as realistic.The history teachers provides the low point of the movie,his lesson being made of clichés we have heard a thousand times or more.THe wanderings through the night recall sometimes Lucas's "American Graffiti" but it seems that the young heroes come here from the wrong side of town.