Last month I had to push the Three Colours trilogy back, and the plan was to watch it in March. Queue me today, at 7PM in the evening, realising that it was the last Monday of the month. And guess what? I hadn’t even watched one of the three I had planned. Hence the choice of the shortest film in my Blindspot 2019 list – Stand by Me.
The movie starts with adult Gordie Lachance sitting in his car, reading news about Christopher Chambers being killed. He starts to reminisce about his past, when he was 12 going on 13, and saw his first dead body. We are then thrown into his childhood, hanging out with his friends. All a little damaged, including Gordie himself, because ha just recently lost his older brother.
Four boys, Gordie (Will Wheaton), Chris (River Pheonix), Teddy (Corey Feldman) and Vern (Jerry O’Connell) decide to go on an adventure. Only that the aim of the adventure is to find the body of a boy gone missing. They know where to look after Vern hears his brother talk about it with his thug friends.
No man, seriously. Am I weird?
– Gordie
Now, I went in knowing close to nothing. Except that they walk by the train tracks and that River Pheonix was in it. The rest, was a little unclear but I’m glad it was. Because the movie was a pleasant surprise. Emotional, supportive and a great coming of age story. It’s just a little bit sad at times but mostly, it’s about those small moments between Gordie and Chris that makes the film work.
Which also came as a surprise was the fact that this is directed by Rob Reiner. A year later, he will release The Princess Bride, my first Blindspot pick ever. What a nice little coincidence to make this Monday even better. By the way, looking at Reiner’s filmotography, is anyone else freaking pissed that he sort of let himself go after the 90’s? Most of his early movies are serious contenders for my 2020 Blindspot list, then it’s just a bit downhill from there.
Yeah, but so what? Everybody’s weird.
– Chris
Keeping it short today, I’d say, out of all the Blindspot 2019 movies, this was probably the easiest one to watch. It was simple, in the nicest way possible, and it had some great moments of recognition. Most of all, I’m glad I watched it today, instead of my other picks. Which would have been maybe less fun.
PS: Can we also just take a moment and appreciate little Jerry O’Connell for a minute? Adorable!
BLIND SPOT SERIES WAS CREATED BY RYAN OVER AT THE MATINEE AND IS HOSTED BY SOFIA OVER AT RETURNING VIDEOTAPES
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I really like Stand By Me. I had this on VHS growing up and always enjoyed watching it. River Phoenix would’ve been such a force had he hadn’t died so soon. *sigh*
It’s so sad about River Pheonix. He and Heath Ledger have a lot in common I guess.
Yay! I watched this for the first time only a couple of years ago. It’s such a beautiful movie. I keep forgetting that I’ve never seen The Princess Bride, that needs to be at the top of my Blind Spot list for next year.
It really does, it’s fun, I saw it years ago for Blind Spot that I didn’t finish. 😀
One of my favorite coming of age movies. Reiner did an amazing job sticking to the book and the ending always gets me a little teary eyed.
He really did!
Sounds sweet. I’ve yet to see a River Phoenix movie, but the first on the list is My own private Idaho (I think I will save it for next year’s BlindSpot)
I think this is my first River Pheonix film but definitely not the last.