RS
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
directed by Gus Van Sant
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
Reverse Shot's next symposium is on filmmaker Gus Van Sant. He's a director I have an opinion about, but looking through his filmography last week I realized I hadn't actually seen enough of his movies to argue my position fairly in an honest-to-goodness public forum. For the next few days I'll be amending that; since I'm writing about Drugstore Cowboy for the issue, it seemed as good a place to start as any.
Drugstore Cowboy reminded me of an aside in William Eggleston in the Real World. That documentary begins by following Eggleston on assignment in Kentucky, where Gus Van Sant has commissioned the photographer to take portraits of Van Sant's hometown. In Drugstore Cowboy, Van Sant takes time to shoot the same locations in different light and different weather. He films the sky above an apartment complex like a photograph, framed meaningfully, like a still. There are moments in the rain and shots through car windows, and even a shot of a car on the road taken from a helicopter, so that we see the landscape of Oregon.
Van Sant has an eye for images, but as a storyteller he's burdened by a sentimental streak. In 1989, Drugstore Cowboy was praised for not moralizing its heroes' plights; hindsight says otherwise. The narrative is burdened by too many fictional coincidences, and its "objective" take on drug culture in the seventies is romantic more than it is removed. The thing with beautiful frames is even a cheap apartment looks good. Which is fine; there are worse things. Drugstore Cowboy is fine, just dated.
PS - Is this the movie that made David Lynch fall in love with his Annie of Oregon? Did Grace Zabriskie introduce them?
directed by Gus Van Sant
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
Reverse Shot's next symposium is on filmmaker Gus Van Sant. He's a director I have an opinion about, but looking through his filmography last week I realized I hadn't actually seen enough of his movies to argue my position fairly in an honest-to-goodness public forum. For the next few days I'll be amending that; since I'm writing about Drugstore Cowboy for the issue, it seemed as good a place to start as any.
Drugstore Cowboy reminded me of an aside in William Eggleston in the Real World. That documentary begins by following Eggleston on assignment in Kentucky, where Gus Van Sant has commissioned the photographer to take portraits of Van Sant's hometown. In Drugstore Cowboy, Van Sant takes time to shoot the same locations in different light and different weather. He films the sky above an apartment complex like a photograph, framed meaningfully, like a still. There are moments in the rain and shots through car windows, and even a shot of a car on the road taken from a helicopter, so that we see the landscape of Oregon.
Van Sant has an eye for images, but as a storyteller he's burdened by a sentimental streak. In 1989, Drugstore Cowboy was praised for not moralizing its heroes' plights; hindsight says otherwise. The narrative is burdened by too many fictional coincidences, and its "objective" take on drug culture in the seventies is romantic more than it is removed. The thing with beautiful frames is even a cheap apartment looks good. Which is fine; there are worse things. Drugstore Cowboy is fine, just dated.
PS - Is this the movie that made David Lynch fall in love with his Annie of Oregon? Did Grace Zabriskie introduce them?
posted by NPK at 8:10 AM
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