Drugstore Cowboy
Screened in November 2010
Director: Gus Van Sant. Cast: Matt Dillon, Kelly Lynch, James LeGros, Heather Graham, James Remar, Max Perlich, William Burroughs, Grace Zabriskie, George Catalano, Beah Richards, Janet Baumhover, Ted D'Arms, Robert Lee Pitchlynn. Screenplay: Gus Van Sant and Daniel Yost (based on the novel by James Fogle).
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Photo © 1989 Avenue Pictures
Portland '71; retro narr; Super8 of 4 leads under overpass; drifting houses, cows, pines, hypos over MD's face against bone-gray bg as he gets high; Debating golf handicaps with JR as he raids house, with dark sea-green interior; Ornette Coleman-y jazz explosions under cop raid; group sex implied? why all naked?; didgeridoo under drug hits, sev shots anticipating ReqDream; GZ is Dillon's mom; "Dope fiend thief of a sun and his crazy nymphomaniac wife" - hides purse under china cabinet; police apprehended dog Panda, used him to find MD/KL, put him to sleep; KL's hair always different, never recognizable; actually superstitious about Nadine's "hex," having mentioned dog in house?; also back of head in mirrors, etc; HG trying to pull her Estelle Parsons, "You're gonna drop me off somewhere, and never come back"; diversion of huge blue sedans in parking lot of hospital, so MD can rob drug cabinet; very realistic acting from the padlock on prescription cabinet; MD unint in sex, like Clyde Barrow; all kinds of weird, jangly, poppy sound effects and song cues; HG dead on floor between bed and window; unexpected actions like JLG punching plywood door instead of MD, as he derides lately-expired HG; burying her in attic; sheriff's conv in their hotel room; long scene burying HG in ferny Oregon forest; a la DaysWineRoses, MD elects to go get clean?; WB like QC in Orlando; MD out of rehab? sees MP slaping a kid for drug $$ owed in alley, accosts wiggery MP; WB: "Narcotics have been systematically scapegoated and deeemoniiiized"; KL shows up, all braided, MD offers her tea, he drills holes all day as new job; methadone; It was Nadine's death! (yeah, we GET IT); desire for Diane, who's with Rick now, making MD regret going clean?; gives KL's care package to WB down hall, who puts vial Dilaudid on his Bible (same drug killed HG); MD recognizes MP, who scratches his head at being recognized (good gesture); woman next door listening through wall; JR can't get MD to ID assailant as he's loaded in amb, catching back up to first CUs; WB in hotel room, drawing curtains; lots of Abbey Lincoln vers Billie "For All We Know" threaded throughout; v.o. over old Super8: "I was still alive; I hoped they could keep me alive"; lyric at end: "I don't want to end up a black Bonnie & Clyde"; Not yet reviewed in full. A–

Awards:
Berlin Film Festival: C.I.C.A.E. Award (Forum of New Cinema)
Independent Spirit Awards: Best Actor (Dillon); Best Supporting Actor (Perlich); Best Screenplay; Best Cinematography (Robert Yeoman)
New York Film Critics Circle: Best Screenplay
Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Best Screenplay
National Society of Film Critics: Best Picture; Best Director; Best Screenplay
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