Viewing this for the first time, in 2019, as a 34 year old, who was a 90's kid that grew up in the Midwest but now lives in Los Angeles, I can say that for me this was one of the most depressing movies I've ever seen. I'd seen bits and pieces of it as a kid as it was constantly on cable TV, but I never watched it through, and now I understand why.
Not only does the movie project severe melancholy in a traditional manner, through it's story, characters, and tone, but also now through it's representation of a long lost era in American film and simpler life on this planet. Towards the beginning of the film, you may find yourself reflecting upon earlier stages of your life as I did, when the pre-Internet world functioned in an entirely different manner. "Going outside to play" was the standard for kids, but in a sense, it was for adults too. As the movie begins, you may find yourself missing the "ancient" world and the archaic sort of way that we functioned and communicated just 25 years ago. You may have thoughts like "Wow, maybe I should move to a small town, to get away from all this". Then, you get 30-60 minutes into the movie, and you start to realize, it is certainly no better there. In fact, it's much, much worse. These characters are prisoners to their own upbringing. It just gets harder and harder to watch as you feel the weight of each of these character's existence getting heavier throughout the film.
Our lead Depp plays an older brother so weighed down by his unfortunate family ties that he himself doesn't even have the chance to have a personality. He comes off as nice at first but eventually it reveals itself as cowardice. He's nice to look at but the character hardly allows him to do much acting. He is not a likable protagonist, and this makes the movie really rough. DiCaprio gives a stellar performance as the mentally handicapped younger brother Arnie but according to the doctors, he will die any day now. Adding to the roughness. It was nice to see some early roles by John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Juliette Lewis, etc - but there is no true relief from anyone in this film. The score is also reminiscent of what you would hear in your head when you're looking at old pictures of your dead grandma and grandpa - also rough. There's not much to do in the town of Endora - in fact, there's nothing to do at all. This leads to people betraying their family members in a multitude of ways. You want to like them, but you can't. It's all heavy, it's all dark, it's all sad.
In the beginning, the film made me miss the days of feature films which were supported and developed with scripts that are arguably about nothing. Yes, things happen in this film, but overall, it's just a bunch of sad people in the middle of nowhere (small town Iowa) who don't have the opportunity to really do anything with their lives - and we are watching them rot slowly, or in some characters cases, rather quickly.
Not only did this movie remind me why the current film industry depresses the heck out of me (movies with psychological value on a sincere, personal level rarely get real budgets anymore - it's all heartless, commercial franchise vomit) but it also hit me like a hammer in the face in a purely existential sense - a heavy reminder that life is miserable, most people are terrible, and we are all doomed. Glad I watched it but I'll probably never watch it again.
Not only does the movie project severe melancholy in a traditional manner, through it's story, characters, and tone, but also now through it's representation of a long lost era in American film and simpler life on this planet. Towards the beginning of the film, you may find yourself reflecting upon earlier stages of your life as I did, when the pre-Internet world functioned in an entirely different manner. "Going outside to play" was the standard for kids, but in a sense, it was for adults too. As the movie begins, you may find yourself missing the "ancient" world and the archaic sort of way that we functioned and communicated just 25 years ago. You may have thoughts like "Wow, maybe I should move to a small town, to get away from all this". Then, you get 30-60 minutes into the movie, and you start to realize, it is certainly no better there. In fact, it's much, much worse. These characters are prisoners to their own upbringing. It just gets harder and harder to watch as you feel the weight of each of these character's existence getting heavier throughout the film.
Our lead Depp plays an older brother so weighed down by his unfortunate family ties that he himself doesn't even have the chance to have a personality. He comes off as nice at first but eventually it reveals itself as cowardice. He's nice to look at but the character hardly allows him to do much acting. He is not a likable protagonist, and this makes the movie really rough. DiCaprio gives a stellar performance as the mentally handicapped younger brother Arnie but according to the doctors, he will die any day now. Adding to the roughness. It was nice to see some early roles by John C. Reilly, Crispin Glover, Juliette Lewis, etc - but there is no true relief from anyone in this film. The score is also reminiscent of what you would hear in your head when you're looking at old pictures of your dead grandma and grandpa - also rough. There's not much to do in the town of Endora - in fact, there's nothing to do at all. This leads to people betraying their family members in a multitude of ways. You want to like them, but you can't. It's all heavy, it's all dark, it's all sad.
In the beginning, the film made me miss the days of feature films which were supported and developed with scripts that are arguably about nothing. Yes, things happen in this film, but overall, it's just a bunch of sad people in the middle of nowhere (small town Iowa) who don't have the opportunity to really do anything with their lives - and we are watching them rot slowly, or in some characters cases, rather quickly.
Not only did this movie remind me why the current film industry depresses the heck out of me (movies with psychological value on a sincere, personal level rarely get real budgets anymore - it's all heartless, commercial franchise vomit) but it also hit me like a hammer in the face in a purely existential sense - a heavy reminder that life is miserable, most people are terrible, and we are all doomed. Glad I watched it but I'll probably never watch it again.