River of Grass

Kelly Reichardt’s directorial debut, River of Grass follows aimless figures Cozy (Lisa Bowman) and Lee (Larry Fessenden) as they’re forced to go on the run after accidentally killing a man (or so they think). Filmmaker Reichardt delivers a typically deliberate narrative that’s been suffused with art-house-friendly images and interludes, and it’s clear, certainly, that River of Grass, despite running a slim 76 minutes, never quite manages to wholeheartedly grab the viewer’s interest and attention. There’s little doubt, then, that the picture benefits substantially from Bowman and Fessenden’s low-key yet lived-in work as the disaffected central characters, although, as becomes increasingly clear, River of Grass‘ most potent attribute is its emphasis on down-and-dirty Florida-based locations and the protagonists’ ongoing exploits within its seedy environs (ie the movie ultimately succeeds quite palpably as a portrait of poverty in the south). The escalating nature of Cozy and Lee’s misadventures admittedly does ensure that River of Grass boasts an unexpectedly compelling final stretch, which, in the end, confirms the film’s place as a decidedly erratic yet somewhat promising first effort by Reichardt.

**1/2 out of ****