Review of A River Runs Through It (1992) by Daniel A — 29 Apr 2011

Norm MacLean (played by a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt in his first major role) is destined to be a writer, growing up home-schooled under the Big Sky of Montana by his father, a presbyterian minister and fly fishing aficionado. Years later, the teenage Norm (Craig Sheffer) and his daredevil brother Paul (Brad Pitt) are young enough to be spared World War I and pass their days making a little trouble for their parents (Tom Skeritt and Brenda Blethyn). Norm heads off to Dartmouth for college, while Paul continues to be the daring one, working as a newspaperman. Norm returns home and immediately falls for a girl at the local dance, Jessie Burns. Meanwhile, Paul continues to test limits at work and in his personal life, dating an "Indian", which doesn't go over well with the local population. Norm is enjoying being high on life, with a new job offer at the University of Chicago and a proposal to Jessie, but he still can't help trying to keep Paul out of the trouble he's always seeking. So Norm goes back east, walking the safe path through life, in the footsteps of his father and in remembrance of his brother.

Beautifully textured and shot, with a straight-forward auto-biographical story that flows and a period setting that absorbs the viewer, this film has much to recommend it. Then again, its straight chronological structure makes it at times feel tedious and long, and one can only appreciate so many slow-motion views of fishing gear and so much omniscient narration. The end comes a little too abruptly, and yet is somehow two hours in the making. The music is swelling and emotional, the scenes of Montana life bucolic and enticing, and the views of the vast Western wilderness sweeping and dramatic.

Overall, a beautifully shot and well-told story of one man's coming of age in the Old West.