SHERDOG MOVIE CLUB: Week 80 Discussion - Drugstore Cowboy

[Guestx]

I would not equate found-footage with documentary-style. They give different impressions. Drugstore Cowboys actually is sort of odd in that it has this documentary-style going but simulatniously contain a few montages (which I did like).

That said, I'm not really fond of found-footage movies as a whole. There are definitively movies that I'm positive towards though. Like Blair Witch, REC, Cloverfield, Frankenstein's Army, or Cannibal Holocaust (if that counts). So I'm not dismissive towards the genre as a rule. But most I don't really like, I just think the style is to limiting and inducice to bad filmmaking traits (shaky-cam, being hectic, bad visuals). Shyamalan's movie The Visit made me want to claw my eyes out -- right as that little kid started rapping I would have prefered death to having to finish it.

Funnily enough, I watched a 1959 movie called Caltiki The Immortal Monster which had a brief found-footage moment in it. That HAS to be the first time that the method had ever been explored on film. Can anyone think of an earlier occurance?

Okay then, so you don't like "documentary style."

Did you ever see United 93?

 

[europe1]

Did you ever see United 93?

Nope!

Okay then, so you don't like "documentary style."

I'm sure there are some that I like -- but overall, not really. I watch movies because I want to see something cinematic. It is inherently stimulating. Why would you counteract that impressions?

I like Frozen River, if that counts as documentary-style.

 

[Guestx]

Nope!

I'm sure there are some that I like -- but overall, not really. I watch movies because I want to see something cinematic. It is inherently stimulating. Why would you counteract that impressions?

I like Frozen River, if that counts as documentary-style.

I would say that different kinds of stories require different filmmaking styles in order to be told most effectively. For instance, Jurassic Park and The Rock call for a completely different style of filmmaking than something like Blue Ruin. One is very big and bombastic and the other is very stripped down and raw.

You should give United 93 a look. It's an interesting film. Paul Greengrass intentionally used a handheld, stripped down approach--you could call it "documentary style"--to try to put the viewer there on that day, to make it as real as possible, and to avoid sensationalizing the events. I think it works.

 

[europe1]

I would say that different kinds of stories require different filmmaking styles in order to be told most effectively. For instance, Jurassic Park and The Rock call for a completely different style of filmmaking than something like Blue Ruin. One is very big and bombastic and the other is very stripped down and raw.

I agree with that.

I don't want to overstate my opinion on Drugstore Cowboy. It's not a bad movie -- it's well-crafted. It just wasn't made for someone with my interests, humor or aesthetic sensebility. I actually liked the last third the best, when he's off the drugs and has to struggle with the mundanity of life.

 

[JayPettryMMA]

Honestly, this is not a film that bears watching multiple times in a short period of time (in the span of two years). It is far less interesting when it is fresh in your head. That doesn't mean necessarily that it soured for me, because it's still a solid film, but it was even more dreary and depressing and bleak than the last time I watched it. Since this is the season to be thankful, I will give you one more reason to be thankful: I'm not going to bombard you with books of text in my reviews.

I agree with SPX that this film seemed to struggle with its time period. It had a serious 80s feel to it, even though it took place in the early 70s, but there was one tipoff that pointed me in the direction of when it took place. Remar's character, the detective, said something about the war on drugs, as if it was a new thing he was having to deal with. Nixon made famous the War on Drugs in the early 70s, so that was enough for me.

Matt Dillon's character seemed to have a strange fixation on hexes, and it was an odd character trait to be so prevalent and yet go so unexplained. Sure, they had the little story about the dog causing them to get busted, but it seemed out of left field. I wanted to get more from the character, and there were tiny moments that informed the audience of who he was as a person - for example, right after he buried Heather Graham, he did the sign of the cross. There were a few brief cuts to religious artwork that hinted there was a lingering spirituality within him, but that was about as concrete as it was going to get.

I really picked up on the music, especially the score, this time around. A lot of it was irritating for one specific reason - it was mixed too loud. Sometimes it drowned out what the characters were saying, especially during a scene of high drama or tension, and that was problematic. I can sometimes ignore the score, but the shrill brass that piped in every so often was very distracting.

I was also never particularly sold on the escalation of the methhead with the dumb cap going from humiliated in an alley to shooting Matt Dillon in his apartment. It felt like there were some scenes missing, like maybe a confrontation later between the speedfreak and Dillon that might have been a fight, where Dillon won and walked away. There was nothing of the sort. It was just "stop slapping that kid, he's crying" to "where's the drugs" "I don't have any, I'm clean now" "ok, let's shoot him". He didn't feel like a villainous character, and one that would harbor the animosity to the level of shooting Dillon at the end. Their transaction at the beginning was a little antagonistic, their deal where Heather Graham corrected him, but nothing to shoot someone over.

Finally, I also agree with europe1 that my favorite section was when he got clean and struggled to live a daily life. There's something oddly fascinating about someone try to go straight after a lifetime of crime and drug use, adjusting to living like a regular, contributing, and boring member of society. After the thrill of robbing places and trying to push his luck robbing a hospital, everything else would seem almost in black and white.

8/10. Good stuff, but definitely needs more time between viewings to keep it fresh. I kept thinking "same old story of a guy trying to start over and his past comes back to haunt him" as I was watching that, even though it was much more, especially with some of their performances. One last thing - thinking now to Kelly Lynch, she looked seemed so different for a woman who was in Road House that same year. Acting, huh.