A River Runs Through It
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Movie Reviews of A River Runs Through It
Movie Review: One of The One-Hundred Greatest Films Ever Made
Summary: 5 Stars
A River Runs Through It is a difficult film to review or even fairly comment upon. It is beautifully-filmed and overflowing with the sort of natural scenery---thick dark forests, cold, free-flowing rivers, wide-open skies---that in most movies would steal the show. It also features a cast of actors, Tom Skerit, Emily Lloyd, Craig Sheffer, Brad Pitt, giving what I will long remain convinced is the most outstanding performance of their careers. This classic 1991 motion picture (re-)tells the true story of writer Norman Maclean's youth and early adulthood nearly a century ago in the wilds of rural Montana. Norman is a deep, pensive person, in many ways the opposite of his younger brother Paul, a free-spirited daredevil whose adventurous nature is good-hearted but perilous, as everyone around him except Paul himself seems to see. Norman and Paul's father is an upstanding Presbyterian minister whose scholarly erudition and sternly eloquent sermons give way at frequent intervals to undertaking the great passion in his life: fly fishing. The Reverend Maclean loves nothing more than to take his sons to the river to fly fish for trout. On these trips the elder Maclean imparts life's lessons to the boys and passes on words of wisdom they will each go on to recall during the course of their lives.
Time passes in the film and we leave the boys as youths and rediscover them as young men. A visiting Norman has returned home in the 1920's, having completed college in the east. Paul is now a somewhat infamous regional newspaperman, who uses his articles to skewer corrupt local figures in business and politics. Where Norman is every bit as staid and responsible as his childhood hinted he would grow to be, Paul is a hard-drinking charmer whose fondness for high-stakes poker games in frontier saloons and nights out with the wilder of the local women stands at odds with his upbringing in the respected Maclean household. During the summer that follows Norman's homecoming after graduation, he and his brother and father once again return to the river and fly fish, Norman finds love with a beautiful girl from a neighboring town, and the entire Maclean family watches as Paul slowly destroys himself in a fast life he cannot seem to leave alone. The film tells the kind of engrossing, touching story that very few cinematic works do, and is one of the crowning jewels of modern motion picture achievement. A River Runs Through It is at times funny, at others profound, throughout it radiates its quality, and ultimately...
And ultimately I hope anyone reading this will see this great film for him or her self.
Movie Review: A Four Count Rhythm vs Shadow Casting in Spirituality
Summary: 5 Stars
I first saw this film when I was eleven. My father taped it, and when I was thirteen, I watched the tape again and again. Being that young, I could not understand the symbolism involved, I simply knew that the movie was "beautiful." Each time I watched "A River Runs Through It", it grew in me, as if I felt a deeper sense of spiritual awakening just from seeing the movie. Now I am 21 years old and an English major, so the symbolism is much clearer.
In the film, there are two brothers, Paul and Norman. The father, the Reverend MacLean teaches the two brothers how to cast a fishing rod. The two learned to cast with a four count rhythm, with a metronome playing. The narrator Norman says of his father: "If he had had his way, no one who did not know how to catch a fish, would be allowed to disgrace a fish by catching it." It becomes clear that this simple way to catch fish, using a four count rhythm, is graceful. If a fly-fisherman swings his rod too powerfully, it might become stuck in some trees. If he swings too weakly, it will never go into the stream where the fish are biting. But the four count rhythm method of casting, is "just right."
Paul is a rebellious, golden-haired youth. His rebellion starts early when he refuses to eat his porridge. He gets into a fight with his older brother Norman, but all is forgiven. The next day, Norman watches his little brother break free of his father's "four count rhythm." He has rebelled into something courageous and original. Though despite its own unique beauty, its gracefulness is different than Norman and his father. It has less control. He calls it "shadow casting" later in life. Like the "shadow casting" Paul's life has less structure than Norman's.
Norman has always had that spiritual grace that comes with swinging the rod just right. It's almost as if he has spiritual gifts as well as his academic ones. (Norman receives a masters degree and becomes a professor.)
Paul's spiritual gifts are no less important, but they are not sustainable, because they lack the discipline and the structure of Norman. Despite his sad outcome, Paul's fishing and his life are "beautiful." They are beautiful because you can love them "completely, without complete understanding."
I wish other films were made now like this one. It is extremely effective as a spiritual project because it not only conveys the message, but the viewer feels the message, the way I had when I was thirteen. It inspired me to stay in my best structure, like Norman had.
Movie Review: Right through my heart...
Summary: 5 Stars
I really didn't expect to like this movie much. It looked incredibly boring. I mean, how engrossing can a film about fly-fishing really be? In the end though, I have to say that I was blown away by how beautifully paced and effortlessly endearing this film really was.
I guess that's obvious from the five-star rating I handed it.
The film (much more than a mere `fishing film') tells the true story of two brothers growing up (and growing apart) in Montana. Norman and Paul are a peculiar pair, two boys cut from the same mold and yet very different, very distinct. Norman (the films narrator) has dreams much larger than his Montana home, while Paul dwells in the comforts (and vices) that come from his laid back life, soaking up the fly-fishing of his youth and making it a central part of his present. But, life lessons come hard for the pair as they buck society, especially Paul who is an apologetic rebel with a severe losing streak (and substantial gambling debts).
The film comes to life in the acting talents, especially that of Brad Pitt. Pitt has so much charisma and charm, and it is a beautiful thing when a character comes along that allows him to embrace that part of himself while still adding depth to the role. The 90's were a good decade for Pitt (between `Thelma and Louise', `A River Runs Through It', `Legends of the Fall', `Seven' and `Fight Club' the man had a ridiculous string of success), in fact he may be the biggest star of the 90's. What he does here, in `A River Runs Through It', is beautiful. Taking the rebellious streak of Paul and giving it the angst and painful remorse needed to make him relatable and human, Pitt creates a memorable character who outlives the film itself.
But for me the best thing about this film is Robert Redford (you won't hear me say that too often) and his deft hand at relaying, with tender restraint, the beauty of this budding `sibling' relationship. You can feel the love and respect just flow from Redford's every pore as he delicately settles into telling this beautiful story. The camera finds the right nooks to explore and the right scenes to embellish. The film glows with subtle yet substantial depth, and a lot of that falls on the shoulders of the man who helmed it.
So, if you doubt a film about fly-fishing will touch your heart, think again. This film extracts the right amount of humanity in every scene, making the art of casting a line as heart-tugging as humanly possible.
Movie Review: I am haunted by waters.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have heard it said that Norman Maclean's classic novella "A River Runs Through It" is the finest piece of American literature ever written. I don't understand how things like literature can be ranked in such simple terms. I will say, however, that it is one of my personal favorites. Spare, poetic and spellbinding. Perhaps one of the reasons that I love this novella so is because I grew up on a farm near the Rocky Mountains, and spent so much time when I was younger fishing and tracking through wood and field. Maclean's tale speaks to me of my youth in authentic and familiar terms.
I generally approach cinematic adaptations of literature, particularly of literature which I hold in such high esteem, with a certain amount of reluctance, even dread. Who could possibly capture the beautiful, simple craftmanship of Maclean's profound prose on celluloid? Evidently, Robert Redford. And he does it with grace and apparent ease. Many of Maclean's efficeintly magnificent words are provided through narration. While I generally find the device of voiceover narration distasteful (primarily because it is so often used to "coach" the viewer), in this case, the viewer is drawn into (and eased out of) Macleans world by Macleans own prose, and nothing could be more appropriate or satisfying. Also, the cinematography is nothing short of spectacular, capturing the magnificent, rugged expanse of Montana's "big sky" wilderness one moment, the golden intimacy of an afternoon on the river the next. I dare say that Redford has captured the essence of Maclean's abiding love for his childhood wilderness in this film, and we, the viewers, are richer for it.
A River Runs Through It is as close to perfection as I have seen in translating a beloved work of letters onto the cinematic screen. Does it have its flaws? I'm sure it does, and there are other reviews here that will point them out for you if you care. For my part, I wish only to say that this is a story about love, crafted by Maclean with love, and now adapted to the screen by Redford with a care that speaks of love - love of the subject matter and the written words. Macleans last words in the novella (and the movie) are "I am haunted by waters." Thanks to his words, and Redfords faithful adaptation of them, I too am haunted.
Movie Review: Wonderful Film By Robert Redford!
Summary: 5 Stars
When this film was first released, some critics called it more a travel commercial for Montana than anything else, since it so lovingly handles the scenes of the family members involved in the sacrament of fly-fishing. For those of us who fell in love with the original novel celebrating the ways in which the fishing proclivities of these two brothers framed the outlines of a wonderful story about coming of age, and the tragedy of personal misdirection, this film adaptation by Robert Redford strikes a responsive chord. As he did in "the Natural' and also in "The Horse Whisperer", Redford uses the staggering beauty of the natural environment to emphasize in boldface the ways in which each of us makes decisions as to how to conduct ourselves in ways that either foster our own development and growth, on the one hand, or to take a more sinister route, on the other. Brad Pitt is perfectly cast here, in the first opportunity he had to show his amazing acting range as the brother hell-bent on doing things the hard and ultimately destructive way in stark contrast to his older brother, played well by Craig Sheffer, who seems more grounded, better oriented, and more likely to be able to carry out his dreams, which ultimately take him away from his beloved Montana. The story basically revolves around the ways in which the choices each makes based on their own needs, perceptions, and personality seals their fates. In this sense it is as much a morality play as a story about the ways in which love and involvement don't necessarily cure all ills. Of course, it is also a story about the relationship each of the brothers has with their father, a minister who considers fishing more a religious activity than a sport. Yet Pitt's character, a natural fly-fisherman who casts like a dream, is unable to translate this particular form of genius into his own personal life to give him either peace or happiness.
It is a lovely film, a terrific period piece, and a lovingly directed bit of transformation of a superb novel to the silver screen. We see so many characteristic Redford touch that one really can watch the movie just for the fishing scenes and come away dazzled by the way he employs the camera in a way that catches the marvel of Montana so unforgettably. I love this film. Enjoy!