A Deeper Look At "River" on Blu-ray

 

There are two things you should know about the near-classic movie A River Runs Through It, which makes its Blu-ray debut on July 28th. First, it officially introduced Brad Pitt as a sensitive bro-hunk to millions of dimpled, blushing housewives. Secondly, it ruined fly fishing for the thousands of enthusiasts whose hard won fishing holes were suddenly invaded by swarms of amateurs inspired by Robert Redford's maudlin love letter to America's pastoral frontier past.
 
Of course, the movie was a boon to the fly fishing industry, which benefited immensely from neophytes suddenly drawn to the sport. And re-watching the 1992 Academy Award winner for Cinematography on Blu-Ray, it's no wonder why so many were compelled to don waders, and hook fish in the most complicated way possible. The best parts of A River Runs Through It are the soothing, idyllic scenes where Pitt, Craig Sheffer and Tom Skerritt, that beloved character actor who's a cross between your dad and Kris Kristoffersen, bond while casting their reels with Zen-like calm and precision. Those scenes are strangely lulling, never boring and like the river of the title, the drama bubbles underneath. It is during these sequences that you can see why this flick was picked for the Blu-Ray treatment, as the crisp, burbling water seems to splash off the screen. A movie fans Blu Ray collection can't be all explosions and robots.
 
Unfortunately, the rest of the movie feels like filler, as the story of two brothers and the very different paths they trod awkwardly veers from overly-sentimental to borderline pretentious. It's jarring to want, like the characters, to return to the river during scenes that introduce two-dimensional romantic interests, or blithely hint at the creepy-crawlies that hide underneath Redford's carefully recreated turn of the century Montana, like the insects under rocks that inspire so many different kinds of lures. Subplots are introduced, abandoned, and for a movie that so brilliantly captures quiet moments shared by family, it fails to truly get into the heads of a father and his sons. The connection between the perfect splendor of nature, and nature's destructive spawn man is established, but superficially explored, as if from a distance. Perhaps that's the fault of the source material, a novella written by Norman MacLean. His autobiographical tale is clearly the work of a man trying to pin down ancient ghosts, and losing.

--John DeVore  

Comments

[matt]

this film is a flat out masterpiece, it is wildly underrated.