1994 romantic coming-of-age story
Rating: 14/20
Plot: Two unhappy teens get into some trouble, retreat to an abandoned house for a party and bonfire, and then make plans for the future.
With irritating aesthetics, the majority of this movie really doesn't move much at all though the 16 mm camera is constantly wiggling. Things pick up with a lengthy party sequence. Although the camerawork still made me a little dizzy, images often blurring into abstractions, at least the music was pretty good. Janis Joplin, my main man Donovan, "School's Out," my other main man Dylan with "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," Cohen's "Avalanche," some CCR as things burn, Uriah Heep, and a return of "Virginia Plain" by Roxy Music, a parallel to the very first scene of the movie where siblings are wrestling over a radio. Best of all is the use of Nico's "Janitor of Lunacy" in a post-party sequence while a kid eats ravioli from a can and a handful of kids take dumps together in the backyard. Those party scenes contain stories told with almost no dialogue whatsoever, but they still work.
Actually, forget the Nico. The best use of music might be the vocal stylings of some old white people seen on the television at the institution. It's wonderfully maddening!
Aside from the cool soundtrack choices, this also references Allen Ginsberg's Planet News. That's right before the most beautiful shot of the movie--a kid emerging from the woods, jumping on his bicycle, and becoming an abstract fuzzy figure as he's absorbed by this gorgeous fog.
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