Review of River's Edge (1986) by Loner Moves . — 03 Feb 2011

I watched this again today. I love this film. Granted it's not an amazing film. It lacks maturity but it has edge to it.

It's one of those films that you can easily see the flaws in as an adult but at a critical age and time it would be the best film you'd ever seen. Period.

Tim Hunter nails that vacuous, vaguely haunting element of being a teenager in the 80's. It seemed like they lived their lives desperately looking for something to happen but in reality there was nothing much to do but drive around, get drunk or get high. I love that sense of spanning time with no real plans.

There's a despairing undercurrent to the film also - the opening theme as the credits roll is urgent with a subtle feeling of impending doom, the character of Feck (played superbly by Dennis Hopper) is both unsettling yet strangely human but it's the teenagers refusal to actually 'feel' anything that truly gives the film its dark heart. It's the perfect antidote to the John Hughes era (even though John Hughes rules).

To be honest it's worth watching just for Crispin Glover's performance alone, he's amazing in this.