Old Post 1: Stand By Me (19/04/12)

That Summer At Home I Had Become The Invisible Boy

All I knew about this going in was that it's about some boys looking for a dead body in the forest and that it was adapted from a Stephen King novella. It's another of these 80s pseudo-classics that I had wanted to watch for a while but never quite got around to. It was also another of these films that I apparently expected too much from since it really didn't leave much of an impact. I like coming of age stories but I couldn't connect with the characters at all, maybe I'm seeing it too late. Or maybe it's that I'm pretty sure I've never actually seen a dead body. I've been to funerals but they were all closed casket/cremations. When my patrilineal grandfather died, I declined to join my Catholic family in the saying of prayers over his corpse (because it reminded me too much of Rosemary's Baby).

Four boys (Gordie, Chris, Teddy & Vern) live in a small town in Oregon when they hear that the body of a missing boy has been found by Vern's older brother, Billy, and his friend Ace and decide to hike out there and claim the credit. The acting was easily the best part of this film, everything the actors did felt natural unlike so many other roles played by child actors. Chris Chambers (River Phoenix) was the only character that really stepped out of their well worn archetype however, as both the jock-ish leader and Jerk With A Heart Of Gold. On reflection, though, it's more likely I simply projected the Jerk part on to him, which is referenced a handful of times: "Oh wait, it is. No one even asked me if I took the milk money that time. I just got a three day vacation". Unfortunately, other than reminding us that the Pygmalion Effect exists, it doesn't go anywhere with this, not even into the familiar territory of 'confounding expectations/bad kid come good'. The epilogue felt tacked on and meaningless, so I'm not counting it.

"a long time ago, but only if you measure it in terms of years" 

I really dislike the idea that identity develops primarily as a response to large-scale, dramatic events rather than a more synthetic & long-term process. It's hard to believe that Chris suddenly became a model student, or Gordie immediately defies his father and keeps up writing (part of the story is told through his voiceover as he is writing the story as an adult) simply because of a long walk. It's like they didn't know what they wanted to say either, when you contrast the above line with the junkyard scene: the kids scale a fence with a large 'NO TRESPASSING' sign that might as well have read 'THIS WAY, MATURITY LIES'. I could give them the benefit of the doubt as to what they intended, but I'm not in a generous mood.

It was vaguely enjoyable if only for the highly competent performances from a group of actors that continue (mostly) to turn in great performances. Or just Tweet a lot.
p.s., this scene is worthy of any horror film: