Director: Kelly Reichardt
Screenplay: Kelly Reichardt
Based on a Story by: Jesse Hartman, Kelly Reichardt
Starring: Lisa Donaldson, Larry Fessenden, Dick Russell, Stan Kaplan, Michael Buscemi
Country: USA
Running Time: 76 min
Year: 1994
BBFC Certificate: 15
Kelly Reichardt has been slowly, quietly putting out highly acclaimed films for over 30 years. Whilst rarely making an impact on the box office, most of her films have been hits on the festival circuit.
I came to her quite late on, when I watched Meeks Cutoff just over ten years ago, but I fell in love with her low-key, naturalistic approach, which harboured hidden depths.
There’s a big gap in Reichardt’s filmography though, when you look at it, at least in terms of feature films. Her debut, River of Grass, was released in 1994, but then her next feature, Ode to Joy, wasn’t made until 2006. Reichardt has since discussed this in an interview, stating, “I had 10 years from the mid-1990s when I couldn’t get a movie made. It had a lot to do with being a woman. That’s definitely a factor in raising money. During that time, it was impossible to get anything going, so I just said, ‘F*ck you!’ and did Super 8 shorts instead.” It sounds shocking but, depressingly enough, it’s likely true that her gender held her back at that time.
She managed to make River of Grass though, in amongst the American indie film boom of the 1990s. Based on a story she’d conceived alongside Jesse Hartman, who produced the film too, it was made on a shoestring and took a while to get a theatrical release, but it made an impact on the festival circuit, playing in competition at Sundance in early 1994.
It’s a title that’s been hard to get hold of in the UK for a while, other than in Soda Pictures’ now-deleted ‘Kelly Reichardt Collection’ box set, where it was only included as a special feature in a poor quality, 480i SD presentation. Thankfully, Radiance Films are picking up the slack and releasing the film on Blu-ray in full HD from a 2k restoration.
I picked up a copy and my thoughts follow.
River of Grass centres around Cozy (Lisa Donaldson), a bored and listless Florida housewife in her thirties who yearns for excitement beyond her mundane suburban life. Her path crosses with Lee (Larry Fessenden), a similarly aimless and somewhat hapless young man who’s been given a gun to sell by a friend who found it lying by the road.
After a chance encounter at a bar, Cozy and Lee sneak into a neighbouring swimming pool where an accidental shooting occurs, leading them to believe they’ve committed a crime.
This act spurs them into a half-hearted attempt to go on the run, mirroring classic outlaw couples, but their lack of resources and commitment consistently undermines their efforts. The film follows their aimless wandering through Florida, highlighting their inability to truly escape their circumstances and the banality of their supposed criminal escapade.
Meanwhile, Jimmy (Dick Russell), Cozy’s father, who happens to be the police officer whose lost gun Lee obtained, is assigned to the case of the shooting.
Reichardt herself grew up in Miami, Florida and came from a family of police officers, so she based some of Cozy’s story on her own life, whilst taking it in a different direction as it moves on. As Reichardt puts it, “Cozy gets to play out my fantasy which is what gets her to the other side of all the bullsh*t—where, by the way, we both find out there’s just more bullsh*t.”
Reichardt grew up in Florida and wanted to get out of there but a friend convinced her that it would be an interesting setting for a film. Indeed, the area does make for a good location for two lost souls who’ve grown bored of life’s banalities.
It also throws in some quirky touches, which leads me to an aspect of the film I wasn’t expecting. I’ve not seen all of Reichardt’s films, but the handful I have lean towards ‘slow-cinema’, with a quiet, subtle approach throughout. However, whilst River of Grass contains a number of moments of inactivity, I found there was more of a snappy, offbeat, almost comedic style running alongside the laid-back naturalism.
This both aided and hindered the film for me. There’s a Jim Jarmusch feel to it all that works nicely, presenting a broad range of slightly larger-than-life minor characters but with a deadpan delivery. However, River of Grass also had some moments that felt a little ‘of-their-time’, reflecting typical 90s indie touches. Some of the banter had a slight Tarantino vibe, for instance (though he hadn’t made many films at this point). Also, whilst the jazz drumming passages, often provided by the Jimmy character, are effective, the film’s use of old jazz records did feel a little cliched in places. The lo-fi, Pavement-esque track ‘Evergladed’ by Sammy didn’t sit right in the end credits for me either.
Being a low-budget debut film, it’s rough around the edges at times too, with the performances, in particular, being a little hit-and-miss. Some of the cast will have been locals or friends though, so this can be forgiven.
These are, however, minor niggles in an otherwise effective, darkly charming and engrossing indie drama. Whilst, stylistically, it feels like Reichardt is still finding her voice here, I enjoyed her montages (edited by co-lead Larry Fessenden) and there’s some wonderfully economic visual storytelling, particularly early on in the film. The ending is pitch-perfect too, even if I wasn’t a fan of the song that followed it.
River of Grass has a Badlands vibe too, as you might expect from the subject matter. Reichardt admits it was an influence when making the film, as well as Godard and film noir. This is an anti-criminals-on-the-run film though. The central pair here don’t actually kill anyone, like they think they do, and the other crimes that Larry commits later are pretty half-arsed. Instead, it’s about the glorified fantasy of committing crime as a way to break free from civilisation, only to find it keeps you as trapped as ever, perhaps even more so.
Overall then, whilst this offbeat, deadpan dramedy feels a touch more dated than Reichardt’s later, better-known films, it still had enough charm to win me over and shows the filmmaker had a lot of promise, from the offset.
Film: 
River of Grass is out on 28th April on region-free Blu-Ray, released by Radiance Films. The picture is a vast improvement over the version previously available in the UK in the Kelly Reichardt Collection box set I mentioned earlier. There’s a lovely natural texture to it, with pleasing colours. It’s a little soft, but this is likely down to the stock it was originally shot on. I’ve used screengrabs throughout this review to give you an idea of how it looks. Audio is strong too, though the original soundtrack has limitations in places, due to its low-budget nature, so don’t expect teeth-rattling demo material.
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY FEATURES
– 2K restoration by Oscilloscope Laboratories
– Uncompressed stereo PCM audio
– Audio commentary by Kelly Reichardt and Larry Fessenden
– Audio interview with writer and curator So Mayer (2024)
– Larry Fessenden: Invisible Man, Renaissance Man, Monstrous Midwife – a visual essay by critic Anton Bitel on the career of actor and producer Larry Fessenden, including his work with Reichardt and other independent filmmakers (2024)
– “Drive-by” outtakes
– Restoration featurette
– Trailer
– Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
– Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow
– Limited edition booklet with new writing by Caitlin Quinlan
– Limited edition of 3000 copies, presented in full-height Scanavo packaging with removable OBI strip leaving packaging free of certificates and markings
The commentary, with Kelly Reichardt and Larry Fessenden is highly enjoyable. The pair have great chemistry together and joke about the details they don’t always entirely remember. Enough is recalled to give an idea of how this low-budget debut was put together though.
Anton Bitel provides an essay about Fessenden. This is fascinating, describing the filmmaker’s varied career and how he has helped develop those of other notable directors.
So Mayer discusses River of Grass in an audio essay. She begins by talking about why she sees the film as the ‘anti-Miami Vice’. She also links it to Aileen Wuornos and explores some films and filmmakers that might have influenced Reichardt. Later, she looks at how the film fits among the rest of the director’s work. It’s a well-informed, thought-provoking piece.
There’s also a 3-minute piece on the restoration process. It uses captions to explain things and shows side-by-side comparisons, so you can clearly see the improvements made.
Finally, the “Drive-by” outtakes are 11 minutes of deleted scenes, alternative takes and outtakes. This includes some shots for the end of the film that would have made it less ambiguous but less effective, in my opinion.
I didn’t receive a copy of the booklet to comment on that, unfortunately.
So, Radiance have put together an excellent collection of supplements to go alongside this feature debut from one of American independent cinema’s finest voices.
Disc/package:
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