Chuffed to announce that the next event that we are presenting as Dirty Opera is a screening of the 1986 film River’s Edge. Author Jonathan Lethem will be hosting a Q&A after the screening with director Tim Hunter and cast members Daniel Roebuck and Josh Richman. The screening at The Claremont Laemmle 5 is on January 22nd at 7:30 PM. Get tickets here. All of our previous events have sold out so if you are interested in attending it is recommended that you get your tickets beforehand.
This film deftly captures the mid-1980s. Hunter’s direction, paired with Neil Jimenez’ script, are both nimble and economical, allowing for a less polished take on the underside of being a youth during this time. If Keanu Reeves and Ione Skye in the cast are not enough, having the incredible talent of Roebuck, Richman & Phillip Brock as well as a manic Dennis Hopper paired with Crispin Glover would make any cup runneth over.
Dig that the soundtrack put together by Brian Slagel is representative of the era that River’s Edge takes place -Slayer, Wipers, Hank Ballard, Burning Spear, Fate’s Warning even Dennis Hopper on the saxophone calling back his field recording soundtrack to The Last Movie. These are artists that resided between those in the know and those that only listened to a spoon fed FM band at that time, not mainstream but not quite underground either and it deftly adds another dimension to the film in much the same way that Elvis and punk rock color the edges of the Dennis Hopper film from 1980 Out of the Blue, a perfect choice of a film to pair this with.
David Lynch’s Pacific Northwest of Twin Peaks haunts the whole of River’s Edge, and the one two punch of Glover and Hopper’s histrionic performances serve as a bridge to an exit not taken on the series. Wonderful to see this on the big screen locally again with an incredible panel to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the film.