Monday, February 16, 2015

Stand By Me

Back when filming the outdoors felt magical...




Released in the mid 80s, Stand By Me is a Stephen King adaptation about four boys trying to find a dead body. Yeah, they want to find a dead body. Throughout the film we see the kids learn and react to their adventure, learning things that may have been subdued in their consciousness. This is a coming of age story, and boy does it really hit your feelings by the end.

There were so many aspects of this film that really surprised me. The biggest one was that these four kids have an amazing performance. I had not once thought that they were trying to hard to act. They had to express numerous emotions, but it's the defeated/breakdown scenes that really hit home and you can't help but tear up with them. You'll laugh with them, you'll cry with them, you'll be afraid with them. For a film that has the child acting upfront and used for the whole film, it is incredibly impressive. Although what amazed me more than how well acted it was, was the fact that the four main kids in this film are played by Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O'Connell. Sadly River had died in the 90s, but all of them has had a successful career as they grew up.

Every main character was fleshed out, to the point where you really wanted to know where these character are going in life, even though the "author" tells us what happens to them at the end. Even knowing where their lives are going there is still a part of you that would like to see it on screen, to watch these boys continue through life.

What I found really refreshing about this film is that it is filmed all outside, on location. It really made the story feel real and the kids in danger as they camp out in the woods as wild animals howl in the night. You see mountains towering over them in the background, and the train scenes nerve wracking. The realism made you feel that these kids are really going through this, even though you know in the back of your mind the kids are alright, you can't help but let the thought that these kids are in danger crawl into your mind more than once while watching this.

The music that played throughout this film are all classic rock songs from the 50s, setting the mood for the time period. The songs are classics, they are fun, and you can't help but smile as the actors dance and sing to it (briefly) as they continue their trek.

This is a film that everyone should watch at least once in their life. It will tug at your heart strings, and possibly make you cry. The story is powerful and still resonates today. It was shot well and used interesting camera tricks to make it seem the kids were in real danger while keeping them safe. Sadly, I didn't get to watch this film for the first time until just the other day. I'm not sure how young people were when they first saw this, but keep in mind that this is based in a time where these kids swore like sailors and smoked like bad boys.

A

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