Drugstore Cowboy

"Drugstore Cowboy"
Gus van Sant, 1989

I have harbored love-hate feelings for all of the Gus van Sant films I've seen thus far: I thought "My Own Private Idaho" was a film of middling quality, enjoyed "Good Will Hunting," liked "Elephant," and hated his most recent offering, "Paranoid Park." In his later films, van Sant focuses almost exclusively, to a frustrating extent, on the visual and audio aspects, at the expense of delivering convincing acting, a well-developed story, and characters we can empathize with - in short, he is capable of producing good films as well as terribly pretentious trite. With this in mind, I was curious as to how I would react to one of his earlier films, "Drugstore Cowboy."

Van Sant's film follows a drug addict named Bob (Matt Dillon) who, with the help of his wife, Dianne (Kelly Lynch), and his partners, Rick (James LeGrose) and Nadine (Heather Graham), raids drug stores in search of expensive pharmaceuticals. These robberies not only serve as a source of income for the group, but also as a more "legal" and convenient way to quell their nasty drug addictions. What I like about van Sant's film, especially compared to his later ones, is how it centers intently on Bob's dilemma, without devolving into purely nonsensical artsiness. There are a number of visual overlays, but these are used shrewdly, and only at times of great emotional intensity - a friend dies and we see images of hats, Bob's most-feared omen, raining down over his face.

All of van Sant's films, in one way or another, focus on characters who try to survive at the fringe of society; "Drugstore Cowboy" is no different. Bob's character arc is especially fascinating to witness, however, thanks to van Sant's well-written script - his best, in my opinion - and his desire to present his character's turmoil in a more straightforward fashion. Van Sant's strengths have always been in his cinematography - he is also a professional photographer - and in his use of sound. His lighting and perfect compositions almost always feel appropriate for the given situation, and his meticulous sound design tends to place an emphasis on the small aspects we unconsciously focus on in our everyday lives - the hollow thunk of a gun being set on a table during a casual drug deal, for example.

Even though this is one of the best van Sant films I have seen, it still carries a number of his trademark weaknesses, such as some awkward, wooden acting and an ending that arrives too quickly. Nonetheless, "Drugstore Cowboy" was a pleasant surprise, an exhibition of Gus van Sant's talents at his most down-to-earthness.

Rating: 8

First Viewed: 7/8/08, on DVD
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