i don't know about anybody else, but i really thought River was just amazing in this part. I mean, he was terrific in just about everything he did, but i think this is one of his most underappreciated and best roles.
He was so intense yet awkward with rose and completely three dimensional. you could always tell there was something else going on in him just by the look in his eyes. he was wonderful.
Ariel thankyou that was a great comment:
He was so intense yet awkward with rose and completely three dimensional. you could always tell there was something else going on in him just by the look in his eyes. he was wonderful
In the DVD during the the directors' commentary, Nancy Savoca even said the way River played the role was revealing itself to her daily.
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I agree.
He was very subtle. Great.
When I think of River Phoenix, this is the role that comes to my mind first.
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It does seem like this was the real River we were getting in this film and is his best performance, helped no end by playing opposite the briliant Lili Taylor.
Everyone talks about MOPI being his best performance/ film, but I found that film to be very depressing and pretentious and it was only because he was playing a gay character that it's so talked about.
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I dont know really....Dogfight for me is the role in which I have most enjoyed him in.
His work in Idaho is great but I think the film itself is a wee pretentious - I dont know why because Vant Sant's Drugstore Cowboy was excellent and is in fact a better film than Idaho.
I think his role, like this film, has been unexplicably underlooked and unappreciated. His change of heart partway through the film just before the dance was very believable, and his life-changing journey through the night with Taylor was an incredible experience. His eventual fate was not overdone with histrionics by Phoenix, and was heart-wrenching. A hard-to-find film that deserves a re-release and IMO Phoenix's most moving work.
shareI agree, it was his best piece of subtle, honest acting. He behaved very realistically, very 'in-the-moment'. The scene when they come out of the restaurant & he realises his 'fly' is still open... So easily missed because it's so under-stated & believable.
shareGreat point - even his comic moments were well done!
shareI agree!:
'The scene when they come out of the restaurant & he realises his 'fly' is still open... So easily missed because it's so under-stated & believable.'
Wasn't that sooo cool? The whole scene outside the restaurant after the meal was executed by both characters with such masterfully yet believable ease - genius!
Especially when you consider the likelihood that the final scene INSIDE the restaurant what PROBABLY NOT filmed directly before filming that exterior. I reckon that demonstrates a fabulous actor - able to use the context of the previous scene (not necessarily filmed in sequence) & apply it perfectly in the next. I'm assuming it was a bit of improv on Riv's part, & a perfect one @ that. We lost a fabulous talent! :(
Sexy Sadie she's the latest & the greatest of them all. -“Sexy Sadie”, The Beatles
Sadie..you must be an actor...good observation
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I would like to have seen river and joaquin in a film together,either when they were kids or as adults,if river was still here now,or if they had done a film before he died when he was an adult.
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i wouldn't say it's his 'best' performance, but it's in my top 3 with 'stand by me' and 'private idaho'..
shareCheck out the British actor Ben Whishaw, (my new love), he reminds me soooo much of River in his vulnerability and beauty, I'm just frightened he'll end up like him but back to topic though, Birdlace is my favourite character and film as it introduced me to the brilliant, brilliant Lili Taylor too.
Although 'Running on Empty' is River's best film I think, should have won the Oscar.
It's shocking, and sad, to think that the same year river was in this film,which is a very sweet film,he would play a part later that ,apparently,made him start taking drugs.I'm not sure if his role in My own private idaho was really where he started taking drugs,or if there was another reasons he started taking them.
I had no idea river and joaquin had been in a film together.What was it called ?.The poster who mentioned it earlier didnt say the name of it.
the afterschool special they did together was called 'backwards: the riddle of dyslexia".. it was made before either of them had become 'stars', so it was never made available on vhs or dvd (that i know of)..
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