Let's face it: there are a lot of really messed up, crazy, and insane movies out there. For some reason or another, I've seen a lot of them. After all, I tend to watch lots of movies and all different kinds of them. I'm not really sure what makes me rent these kinds of films but I usually manage to watch them all the way through. So, forever how long I can do it, I'm going to post this column once a week (not necessarily on Tuesday- unlike Speech of the Week, this column will not be day specific) and focus on some of the more obscured and messed up films that I've seen in my twenty-one years of life. Here it is folks: Wesley's F-ed Up Movie of the Week.
"A troubled high school slacker, Samson (Daniel Roebuck), kills his girlfriend for no particular reason and shows off her dead body to his friends Layne (Crispin Glover) and Matt (Keanu Reeves), whose reactions vary about whether to involve the police. Based on a real incident, the story is most disturbing because of the students' ambiguous reaction to the crime. Dennis Hopper plays the creepy Feck, with whom Samson hides out for a time."
I had planned on talking about a different movie this week (I guess it will have to be delayed until next week) but, since I watched this film just last night and it's fresh on my mind, I decided to go with this one instead.
Although I would say that River's Edge is no where near as messed up and disturbing as last week's entry Happiness, it definitely was a pretty screwed up movie that was pretty troubling to watch.
As the synopsis from Netflix comments on, the most disturbing part of this film is the kids' pretty lax reactions to finding the dead body of their murdered friend. At first, no one is really disturbed by what has happened or the fact that one of their friends is now dead. As the film continues, this type of apathy is continued as most of the kids in the high school display a sense of not really caring about what happened, much to the horror and confusion of teachers, police officers, etc.
Eventually, the murder of Jamie finally starts to get to Matt (Keanu Reeves) and Clarissa (Ione Skye) and they try to figure out what to do about the entire situation. This all occurs while Matt's evil little brother Tim (Joshua Miller) and his friend reek havoc around town as they try to find a gun to kill Matt with, who Tim believes has narced on Samson for the murder. Layne (Crispin Glover) also takes it upon himself to do everything possible to save his friend Samson, even if it means hiding the body and getting his friend out of the state personally.
If you ever hear anybody talk about this movie, the one thing they are most likely to mention is Crispin Glover and his bizzarre acting choices in this film. In fact, I was actually first exposed to this film from a clip of Glover's acting (featured below) on Filmdrunk because it was just such a strange acting job. For those of you not familiar with Glover, he played Marty McFly's father in Back to the Future and was in the Willard remake. He is also the same guy that got banned from David Letterman for years after attempting to kick Letterman in the head during a bizarre interview and also the same guy that threatened to murder Steven Spielberg (who was a producer) for using footage of him from the first Back to the Future in Back to the Future: Part II without his permission. Needless to say, Glover is one screwed up but very fascinating guy. All of this shows in his unnatural acting job in River's Edge. Honestly, I don't really know how to describe it. Glover plays Layne, who becomes obsessed with saving his friend Samson from imprisonment after learning about his murder of Jamie. Glover plays Layne as a strange, almost girly stoner who seems to be fueled by random ideas that come into his head. Honestly, I don't know how else to describe it. A lot of people say that his acting job was terrible in the movie but there are a lot of others that say they actually knew a guy like this. Personally, I enjoyed it because it was just so bizarre. Watch a clip of it below.
Another stange but strong performance in the movie comes from Dennis Hooper, who plays Feck, the local paranoid drug dealer who claims to be hiding out from the police due to a murder he committed years ago. The scene he shares with Samson on the river's edge next to where the murder took place at night was probably the most disturbing scene in the entire film. The reason the scene is so troubling is that Hooper actually becomes disturbed and depressed as he learns that Samson doesn't really seem to know why he even killed the girl and that he didn't even love her (which is a big contrast to the murder Hooper committed- he claims that he killed the love of his life and for a good reason).
Even though the film is pretty troubling, it does have some good moments of humor. My favorite bit was the fight between Matt and his stepfather. In the verbal fight, Matt claims that, "You just stay around here to f*ck my mother and eat our food! Motherf*cker.....Food-eater!" Hilarious stuff. You can see that scene here.
Overall, River's Edge is a pretty well-made and engaging movie, even if it pretty disturbing as well. The acting is pretty good (and pretty bizarre) and the story manages to always keep you nervous as to what is going to happen next. The film definitely manages to explore and comment on the apathy and desensitization of the youth of the late 1980's (particularly the slacker / stoner crowd) but it also manages to offer a slight glimpse of hope with it's fairly emotional climax. The movie definitely bothered me but I would have to say that I liked it for the most part. I just don't see myself re-watching it anytime soon is all.
Also, as a bonus, here's another Crispin Glover acting scene above. Have fun.
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