8pie Tar Heel Thursday. Julyl 6. 1 987
Tlhe River's Edge9 .
Movie provides disturbing look at high school drug abuse
The opening credits for "The
River's Edge" will remind you of
late-night usnow" on your televi
sion set. They are in shades of
black and white, which lends a
newsreely feel to the picture of a
wide and glinting river, where a
strange and chilling crime has
taken place. The opening track is
an eerie prep for what will prove
Trioa White
Cinema
to be an unusually unnerving
movie.
I sat in my chair in the theater
knowing, as some people will, that
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the plot of "The River's Edge" was
taken from an obscure news story
from California that was released
in the early 1980s. However, I was
not prepared to be drawn into the
inescapable matrix that caused a
large group of teenagers to protect
a friend from arrest. Their friend,
who has been involved in drug
abuse primarily of marijuana
has killed his girlfriend. We see
an extended closeup of the dead
girl, who also used drugs. She has
short nails, with the exception of
an almost gruesomely oversized
and discolored thumbnail, which
we might assume she employed to
snort substances far more danger
ous than marijuana.
It is the abuse of both street
drugs and illegally consumed
alcohol that underlies the plot of
this movie and undermines the
security of this particular group of
otherwise not atypical high school
kids.
More disturbing than this fact,
however, is the zombie-like reac
tion of this large group of high
school kids to the murder of one
of their friends by another. The
murderer, an obese and apathetic
boy, describes the crime in an
unaffected manner, as if he is
uninterested with whatever effect
he might cause: "She was talking
s he says, as if to justify
himself. Played very effectively by
Daniel Roebuck, "John," as he is
called by his friends short for
toilet, in this case continues
later, "I strangled her. . . . But she
was dead and I was so . . . alive
. . Perhaps it is the first time
that John has felt alive in a long
time.
Since the recent findings con
cerning drugs and alcohol have
indicated that their abuse can
cause a lethargic and apathetic
attitude, it seems not surprising
that for these kids, who have
grown up with drugs, this kind of
attitude is the
norm.
Peer pressure, no matter how
old you are, can be an extraor
dinarily persuasive influence.
Drug and alcohol abuse, including
"recreational use," buying, selling,
pushing and overdosing are
increasingly disturbing pheno
mena in America, as well as other
countries. Yet in the end it is left
up to the individual to decide,
whether under pressure or not, to
walk away from the heat. "The
River's Edge" is an excellent
description of this fact.
"The River's Edge" has excellent
ensemble acting, generally speak
ing. Dennis Hopper (Hoosiers,
Blue Velvet) is especially good as
a low-key psycho. However, I
think Crispin Glover (George
McFly in "Back to the Future
put in a performance that, while
effective, was still too much like
Ally Sheedy on speed for my
comfort.
"River's Edge" is, in my opinion,
one of those few and far between
must-see films. It is currently
showing at the Center Theater at
Lakewood Shopping Center in
Durham.
Play
from page 7
underestimated brother (Ed Smith
of Raleigh) Owen Musser, the
KKK connection (Ken Kasriel of
Chapel Hill) and Betty the pro
prietress (Elaine Croker of Chapel
Hill) complete the cast.
On July 29, The New Theater
Company will open "Retreat," a
new drama by North Carolina
playwright Phil Hines, which will
"also run Wednesday through
Saturday for two weeks.
Tickets for "The Foreigner" are
$7 for Friends of The ArtsCenter
and $8 for the public, with a
discount offered on purchase of
tickets to both plays. Call 929-2896
for information or to charge
tickets.
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