Comments on: "A River …"

By: Jo

Jo — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 22:42:00 +0000

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT is one of my favorite movies, and books. It’s the single movie that can make me cry. It makes me think of the flaws of my grandfather, father, older sister and myself. Our older sister will be gone soon, in her early sixties, and then there will only be three of us. My father had four girls, so I learned to fly fish early since I was the only tomboy. It was the only valuable thing he left me.

By: Euodia

Euodia — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 02:40:00 +0000

You’re welcome.

By: Tara

Tara — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:18:00 +0000

Excellent piece! I have always loved this ‘not easy to watch’ movie. It is one of my favorites. It’s deep and murky and it’s the relationships and the struggle for them that always hooks me here. Thanks for bringing it back for me….

By: medium guy

medium guy — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:53:00 +0000

I love the scene near the end with Brad Pitt “chasing” a fish down the river as he “rafts without a raft” along the rocks.

By: Euodia

Euodia — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 23:43:00 +0000

Minnowspeaks:

To clarify:

I do not categorize this movie as a "fluff piece," which I agree it is not. See para. 5:

"While I still don’t `like' A River Runs Through It in the sense that it’s an upbeat, easy-to-watch, “feel good” fluff piece, the movie offers a rare blend of affection, distance, dimension, beauty, insight and heartbreak that’s both mysterious and captivating."

The point I'm trying to make is that this movie is NOT an "upbeat, easy-to-watch, feel-good fluff piece." Instead, it has a depth, substance and subtlety to it rarely seen in most cinematic presentations these days. In other words, it takes work to watch this movie, but it's worth it.

I apologize if this did not come across clearly. Thank you for pointing it out.

By: sonja

sonja — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 13:07:00 +0000

I also missed this movie in theaters, but had the pleasure of seeing it on video while on a trip out to Montana several years ago. It’s become one of my favorites for all the reasons you’ve so beautifully written here.

By: minnowspeaks

minnowspeaks — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 05:53:00 +0000

I would not call this movie fluff. Other than that your review was wonderful. Growing up in Montana, a Scot, and a Presbyterian I connected to many parts of A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT that most probably won’t. Nevertheless I too would recommend renting it. I met Norman MCLean as a little girl. His cabin was two doors down from ours. He was a rough, skinny, wiskered, man and every sentence was puncuated with a word I probably shouldn’t have been hearing. Sometimes people’s lives end differently than they begin or maybe we caught him on a bad day. Whatever the case the only part of the movie that did not ring true for me was the grandfatherly image in the final scene.