River of Grass

source: River of Grass

River of Grass

As a counterpoint to Thelma and Louise and Badlands, this is the unromanticised, pathetic cry for attention and escape. Two anonymous casualties of society unintentionally crash and burn their way through the suburban sprawl of the Florida wetlands, an ecological miracle now supposedly re-claimed for twentieth century progress. Except their crashing and burning barely gets them out of their home state such is their ineptitude and powerlessness. Even with a real and yet symbolic gun they still can't capture that dream; inept burglaries, and an accidental shooting all they can muster. In the city they'd descend into an underworld of disease and drugs but in the wide recovered flats of the Everglades there isn't a subculture they can lose themselves in. Kelly Reichardt's minimal style, long takes and static camera just emphasises their hopelessness. There's no cathartic cliff to drive off at the end just a slow moving highway going nowhere special.

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.

In the Everglades a young couple enter into a life of crime almost by accident. First of all, I must give this film credit for its ambition - it aims to have a sense of style, a kind of steamy, sleazy noirish air. The story, though familiar, is acceptable, the script is OK, and the majority of the technical elements are discharged adequately. Unfortunately, it is denied the breath of life by that bane of the low budget indie movie, bad acting. And some - most - of the acting here is shockingly bad. And the more you watch, the more aware you are of how bad it is, and that in turn impacts on the script. It isn't bad, but the acting makes it sound bad.

"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.