Dissatisfied with her life and family, Cozy (Lisa Donaldson) sees an opportunity to escape when she crosses paths with rootless Lee (Larry Fessenden).
Kelly Reichardt is one of those filmmakers I have been vaguely aware of, but I have now started watching her films.
I am always looking for themed groupings of reviews, and I wanted to write something longer about a specific filmmaker, particularly a filmmaker who did not work in the kind of genre fare that I tend to write about.
My previous experience with Reichardt is limited to Certain Women, which was playing on Netflix. That film won me over so completely I wanted to watch more of her work.
Going from that film to her debut, one is aware of a more overtly sardonic tone.
Scenes are constructed as set ups and punchlines - the reveal that Lee is sleeping naked; the juxtaposition of Lisa Donaldson’s voice over and the images (discussing how Lee does not want her to get in the way of his ‘crime spree’ while he checks phone booths for change); even cutaways like the shot of old cop trying to land a basket in a floating hoop.
The characters are also slightly broader, and more clearly comic variations of the same basic idea: people stuck in more than just a physical space.
The characters are children in adults bodies - Cozy is fixated on her father while Lee still lives at home with a tattoo ‘Mom’ on his arm.
These single-parent families are complementary - the central couple are more like siblings than lovers.
River of Grass is a movie about moving without moving - because the characters have no money, they are forced to reckon with the lives they want to leave behind. Even Cozy’s father is frustrated by his present lot in life.
Every time they could get in trouble, they are let go - even the cop sends them home.
When Lee finally reveals that their ‘victim’ is alive - and whole reason for going on the run is gone - he makes an offer to start a new life and support them with work (basically a new form of the domesticity she has escaped).
Cozy kills him and drives away, ending the loop she has been caught in.
The film leaves her as she heads off into an unknown future - Cozy is finally free and on the move.
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