River of Grass

"River of Grass" was a non-event film with a nice visual style that reminded me of something between "Stranger Than Paradise" and "Wild at Heart". Yes, there's a big window in there, but that's what makes this film interesting. I don't think it was particularly good and it was often boring, but it really showed potential. I felt it had a few things to say philosophically and its dark comedic version of an often overdone genre was fine, but there was something lacking. Since I know a little bit of the history of this one, I would like to give it some credit, because I think what was missing was funding to ensure it to be a tight AND well-crafted film. Instead it's super short, but paced like it's twice as long.

You get nice little movies such as this surfacing from the U.S independent film industry, sandwiched between two (or three) horrid ones. The 'River of Grass', sort of ambles and drifts along in an endearing 'Badlands' fashion and almost at times without much purpose at all. Perfect though for telling the tale of two misfits thrown together after a single moment of madness. Fessenden is back the frame.

Kelly Reichardt's "River of Grass" may borrow more than liberally from early Terrence Malick but is none the worse for it. It's a shaggy dog story told with some humour and is certainly a lot less sonorous than the films that followed. It may be a fairly minor work, (we're not talking "Badlands" here, even with the Sissy Spacek like narration), but it has a goofy charm despite the ropey, amateurish performances and at 76 minutes is pleasantly short. It also makes good use of its depressingly bland Florida locations. If it doesn't mark Reichardt out as a major talent it shows that she was at least worth watching.

Like in Terrence Mallick's brilliant 1973 'Badlands', we have two, desperate, bored and unfulfilled young people here, who aimlessly - and pointlessly - fall into crime and then are then perpetually trying to avoid the repercussions from then on.

Charismatically, our two protagonists can't hold a candle to Charlie Sheen and Sissy Spacek of Badlands but as believable, everyday folk, Lisa Bowman and Larry Fessenden, as Cozy (a day-dreaming young woman named after her cop father's favourite jazz drummer) and Lee Ray, an unpredictable and moody son-of-a-gun who you could describe as having a poor attitude to both life and to others, they're fine.

Director Kelly Reichart's movie is at times both dreamy and at others more immediate. Though, if you're after blood-splattering action, you might be disappointed as this is more a character piece. Interesting camera angles add to the quite indie, fly-on-the-wall photography and we are introduced to some of the less glamorous and non-touristy parts of Florida. The title refers to the Native American name given to the stretch of swamplands near the Everglades.

A smattering of old jazz records provide the only soundtrack.

River of Grass says nothing new and covers no new ground but as a contemporary alternative to the Bonnie & Clyde and Natural Born Killers genre, that I and many others find both enthralling and intriguing, then this is a worthwhile, if minor, addition. I saw it on Film 4.

River of Grass is a 'first-movie' (practically in quotes to make the distinction) not just in the fact that it is for Kelly Reichardt, but in tone too: the film is a loose, vaguely noir-ish tale with a more low-key beat and looking forward for when the director really takes a hold of that "mumblecore" thing years later as it's about a mother of two and a 2nd-tier Jack Nicholson character think they've accidentally killed someone and they go on the run... not really(?)

It's like the American remake of Breathless I might've wanted instead of the weak one with Richard Gere. It's a little too short to be more than a little festival experiment, but it has some good jazz, some good acting, a few genuinely weird and funny moments (some with a quirky Orthodox Jew who laughs a lot), and a final twist that seems needlessly pessimistic. I want to emphasize if you're a Reichardt fan and come to this in retrospect that it's not a bad debut, and not a great one either, though it does speak to her as having more of a sense of humor than her other films might lead one to believe.