Early Keanu Reeves Day *

* (restored)

 

‘It is difficult for me to think of another young actor today whose performances are as honest as those of Keanu Reeves. While Judd Nelson flares his nostrils, Rob Lowe flashes his choppers and Andrew McCarthy forces his pout, Reeves quietly delivers a deeply cutting edge to his roles — from the moral Matt in the cult classic River’s Edge, to the romantic Danceny in the current critic s bon bon Dangerous Liaisons. His ethereal, amazingly true work in these movies, as well as in the acclaimed Permanent Record and The Prince of Pennsylvania, have made him film s most believable spokesman for eighties youth. Yes, I felt impelled to talk with him. I wanted to find out what Mr. Reality is really about. And I did, I think, but not without agitating my stomach first.

‘It’s a sunny but cool day in Venice, and Keanu Reeves has warmed himself with a few gulps of ruby-red wine. A couple of hours earlier, on a beach house rooftop where a photographer directed him to pose, he had seemed distracted, and it was hoped the Gallo would ease his ennui. But right now it is beginning to look as if Reeves is determined to remain as mysterious as the nearby sea, and we’re both getting a bit fidgety. We’re talking about the girlfriend he doesn’t have and the apartment he hates (or is it the other way around?), and his contribution is somewhat limited.

‘I ask Reeves if he’s in the mood for a relationship. “Uh huh,” he answers with all the enthusiasm of a yam. “My heart and my dick are out.” He gets serious about singlehood. “It’s kind of lonely,” he says, looking at a piece of lint floating in a beam of sunlight. On the chance that he’s about to bare his soul, I ask him if meeting someone is tough because he is into his career. “Into my career?” be mimics. “No, man, I just, you know, here. I don’t know, man. Sure, yeah, I guess.”

‘So, is it yes or no, I ask. “I don’t know, man … There’s so many angles to take on these questions. What do you say? You just kind of go, uh, yeah.” He pauses. “I don’t have a feeling about it,” he says finally, frustrated. His face is stoic until he adds, “But if you know of a good, expensive, elite prostitute agency, if you have a card, I’d like to know.” Whereupon Reeves sounds off like a cheap smoke alarm, his version of a nervous laugh.

‘This is not the person I was expecting to meet. On the screen, Reeves does not call attention to himself. Though his performances suggest a whole unsettled world rumbling beneath a coping surface, he doesn’t brood for effect. From his subtle, sensitive screen exercises, I expected him to be reserved, even pensive.

‘Reeves in person, though, is Crispin Glover with dark hair, an intensely hyper individual, a young man with a passionate soul and a superball factory for a mind. He has a crude sense of humor, is an occasional smart ass and can be aloof to the point of autism. Until, of course, he breaks into a wild impromptu street person soliloquy without warning.

‘As such, it s hard to get a handle on him. As a girl I once knew would say, “I’d like to crack his head open and see what’s inside.” I ask if Reeves, at 24, is getting a bit tired of roles that have him play a teenager. “It’s starting to become an issue. I’ve done it so much, I don’t want to do it much anymore,” he says. “I’ve worked pretty steady for a couple of years and I think I became kind of a freak. You know, you’re playing younger than you are … it affects you, man.”

‘He mentions he’s just done a version of Harold Pinter’s The Servant for PBS, and I ask him if he is well-read. “Not really. I’m kind of like sort of would have quasi maybe not really. I mean, you know, I dropped out of high school, so (now) I’m chasing all didactics. I really like to read, I never learned approaches to thinking. I never wrote essays. When you write essays, you f—ing think about what you read. You write it down and you have a point of view. So my thinking has been going through some changes since I’ve been out here, and I’ve worked with some people who are really well-read, intelligent people, and they’ve enlightened me onto a couple of things that have really affected me.”‘ — John Griffiths, 1989

 

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Stills

 

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Further

Keanu Reeves @ IMDb
Keanu Reeves is immortal
Keanu Reeves Network
The Sad Keanu Tumblr
KeanuWeb: To Keanu Reeves and Beyond
Whoa. The Films of Keanu Reeves
Calimero’s Webspace: all news about KEANU REEVES
Keanu Reeves Movie Box Office Results
Keanu Connection
Know your meme: Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves Online @ Facebook
‘A story about Keanu Reeves’
Fuck Yeah, Keanu Reeves
Keanu-Reeves.ch
Keanu.org
DRESS UP KEANU REEVES
Keanu Reeves Fan Club
MatrixwithKeanu @ Twitter
[For The Love Of Keanu Reeves]
whoa is (not) me: Defending Keanu Reeves

 

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Extras

1984 Keanu Reeves. Wolfboy

1985 Keanu Reeves “Young Again” interview

Keanu Reeves – Under the Influence (1986)

VINTAGE 80’S COKE COMMERCIAL W KEANU REEVES

Keanu Reeves interview ’94

Keanu Audition. Reeves.

 

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Select paranoia memes

 

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Interview: Keanu Reeves & River Phoenix (1991)

 

GINI SIKES: Keanu, you’ve said you accepted a part in Idaho first, hoping River would do the film too.

KEANU REEVES: No. We were always together.

RIVER PHOENIX: He was lying. We were doing I Love You to Death, and we both got the Idaho script. We were driving in a car on Santa Monica Boulevard, probably on the way to a club, and were talking really fast about the whole idea. We were excited. It could have been like a bad dream—a dream that never follows through because no one commits, but we just forced ourselves into it. We said “OK, I’ll do it if you do it. I won’t do it if you don’t.” We shook hands. That was it.

PAIGE POWELL: River, what were the challenges you face from portraying a character who suffers from narcolepsy? When I first saw your narcoleptic attacks on film, for one tenth of a second they could have been perceived as comic. Then they seemed painful. It’s clear that they come out of nowhere. How’d you know to do that?

PHOENIX: Mainly from Gus’ descriptions of what Jake would do. Jake was a narcoleptic in Portland who worked with me. I spent a lot of time talking to him about why narcolepsy happens. I understood it completely from the medical and scientific standpoint, though they don’t know exactly what it is. But when I was with Jake he never had a narcoleptic attack in front of me. After I’d done a few of the fits, Gus said they were exactly the way Jake had them.

REEVES: Do you think this film will cause narcolepsy? I mean, should parents watch out for their children?

PHOENIX: I would definitely stress that viewers should be very aware of the catching nature of narcolepsy.

REEVES: Should viewers wear special glasses?

PHOENIX: It’s like the eclipse. If you look at it too long, you might get it.

POWELL: While we’re on the subject of research, did the two of you hang out with the street kids in Portland?

PHOENIX: Totally.

REEVES: Yeah, a little bit.

SIKES: Were there ever times that you felt that asking street hustlers for information was somehow exploiting them?

PHOENIX: I think they were flattered that their story would be told.

REEVES: No, man. I don’t feel that this story is a contemporary tale of the street. It’s not current in the places or language. The only way this story is contemporary is in a larger sense, in its emotions and perhaps what goes on inside of some people…

POWELL: Aren’t emotions timeless?

REEVES: Exactly. But I’m talking about how they’re manifested in language, or, you know, in anything that people are doing. I’m just saying this film is not representative of the street scene in Portland.

PHOENIX: That’s very true. If a kid from Portland saw this movie, he wouldn’t think it was Portland street life. But it’s our responsibility to go as deep as we can and to explore all the directions that might even be suggested in a script. Just so we have all the bases covered. Our research was extracurricular, it wasn’t necessarily needed.

SIKES: Describe how you went about researching the lifestyle of street hustlers.

PHOENIX: I entered it through friends of Gus’ who were already on the street, Scott and Gary. Gary died in a car wreck recently, from what I heard; God bless his soul. Being anonymous also helped us, I think.

SIKES: They had no idea you two were actors researching a role?

PHOENIX: No, no. It was all in character. We were just hangin’. If anything, they thought, This is another cat who’s trying to take my spot on the street. There was maybe a little curiosity, but never any animosity or jealousy. Because it’s a brotherhood on the street, man. You all watch for each other’s backs. Because no one wants to see anyone get stabbed.

SIKES: So nothing was set up?

PHOENIX: Some street kids came over to Gus’ house, and we met different people at different places. It was staged, in that sense. But the actual street stuff was just us, working on our own time. Like guerrillas [laughs]. It was very sensational for us. I though our main problem was to find out if we could be the real guys. Gus’ choice was to use real street guys or us, so Keanu and I felt a great burden. We wanted to believe in this script and work out the problems.

SIKES: Both of you are very popular among adolescents. In particular, teenagers seem to relate to you, Keanu, because of your Bill and Ted persona. Was there any concern in your camp, say from your agent or manager, that playing a male prostitute would hurt your “image”?

REEVES: Hurt my image? Who am I—a politician? [laughs softly] No. I’m an actor. That wasn’t a problem. But shooting was a very intense experience. I had just finished Point Break and was still into my character. I felt a bit of anxiety about Idaho. I was overwhelmed at what I had to do—it was like, Oh, no! Can I do this? I was afraid. But Gus and River made me fit in. Said, Let’s do one bitchin’ movie. I don’t know about you, River, man—but I was introduced to so many elements through the guy I was playing. Real people. My imagination. Gus’ interpretation. Shakespeare. It was rich! And it was just bottomless, man. You could go as far as you could go, you know?

SIKES: I remember reading an interview with Robert Downey Jr. after Less Than Zero, where he said he was afraid people would harass him because of his character. Has anyone reacted strongly to your rules?

PHOENIX. Fuck them. That’s all I can say. A big capital F, a U-C-K, and THEM. T-H-E-M.

REEVES: Get a clue, man.

SIKES: So you haven’t had any negative—

REEVES: No. I get negative shit all the time. I don’t care.

PHOENIX: Do you think anyone would have taken this script ten years ago?

REEVES: Porno stars, maybe. Like maybe one of Warhol’s crowd.

PHOENIX: Joe Dallesandro?

REEVES: Possibly one of those cats.

SIKES: One of your co-stars is a Warhol actor—Udo Kier, from Dracula and Frankenstein. Which brings me to a prurient question…

REEVES: It’s your job!

SIKES: How comfortable were you guys filming your three-way sex scene with Udo?

PHOENIX: Well, I really didn’t help matters. While we were doing our scene I said, “Just think, Keanu. Five hundred million of your fans will be watching this one day.” Like a stupid idiot. I made him feel completely self-conscious. But Keanu rose above it. Gus scolded me endlessly the night after.

REEVES: Did he really?

PHOENIX: Yeah. He scolded the shit out of me. I almost cried. That was terrible of me. I was just trying to break the ice. You know, I thought it was humorous—I was trying to save Keanu from being freeze-framed by twelve-year-olds at home!

REEVES: Thanks, brother.

PHOENIX: Later on, Keanu was filmed naked with the beautiful Chiara [Caselli, who plays Scott’s Italian girlfriend, Carmella]. That scene was really a drag. He was having a great time with this girl, but it was freezing cold and they were dying. So I think they were more worried about the temperature than the nudity. That took five hours.

SIKES: The scene with Udo must have been easier simply because you two were already good friends. How did you meet?

PHOENIX: Actually, I met Keanu through my ex-girlfriend Martha [Plimpton] while they were doing Parenthood—they were sucking face regularly. My brother, Joaquin [Phoenix], otherwise known as Leaf, was also in it. So, Leaf and Martha were his buddies before I was even a friend of his. Then I met up with him on I Love You to Death. And I liked the guy. I wanted to work with him. He’s like my older brother. But shorter.

POWELL: Keanu, Scott is a rich kid who wallows in the gutters to rebel against his father, who’s the mayor of Portland. Gus based Scott on Prince Hal in Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays…

REEVES: Yeah, but in the Shakespeare world, Prince Hal turned out to be a good king. To avoid eternal strife he gets into these wars. All the dukes and lords were pretty happy because men were going off to die for a noble cause and people were being fed. But in Idaho, Scott is not connected to the people. He’s got his own agenda. He just dogs everybody and goes his own way. So he doesn’t have, like, the noble aspect. In the end, his father was perhaps very compassionate and concerned. Perhaps that’s what makes it a modern tale.

SIKES: Were you concerned at all that Mike speaks in street vernacular throughout the film, whereas Scott goes in and out of Shakespearean verse? Did you think your switch in speech might seem jarring, Keanu?

REEVES: The Shakespeare stuff was an aspect of the script. Gus said it was something to do and think about it. So that was my game. I wasn’t worried. It just seemed challenging and interesting to me.

PHOENIX: I was afraid of it not working.

REEVES: For me?

PHOENIX: No, for the entire film. I felt we needed to be very clear on how we set up the transition scenes between the mock Shakespeare stuff and the docu-drama stuff. There needed to be stepping stones to those scenes—so it wouldn’t be like jumping from black to white to Technicolor. It was important to organize our thoughts and to support Gus stylistically.

REEVES: I wasn’t aware of all the different styles going on in the film initially, though. You were looking through the camera a lot more than me.

POWELL: The thing I like so much about Gus and his work is his compassion. Mala Noche just ripped my heart out. In My Own Private Idaho, he’s dealing with the search from home and family. Was that theme important to you in deciding to do this film?

REEVES: Oh, not for me.

PHOENIX: I have really strong feelings about the search for home and mother. I thought it was very, very touching. You just knew that someone who could come up with this premise would have something to back it with in terms of knowledge and experience. Which Gus has.

POWELL: What was it like working with Gus as a person—living in his house, on location, and so on?

PHOENIX: Gus just has those qualities that we all need to get back. Open eyes, open ears, a kid’s stream of consciousness. You know, the things kids do—like putting their fingers up strange pipings in the house or acting all soft because they’ve screwed up and Mom’s mad at them. That’s Gus. Just being a kid. He was very collaborative, completely wide open. It was like a family operation—co-op style.

SIKES: How did you two manage on the set?

PHOENIX: Every morning, Matt [Ebert, production assistant] woke us up by singing show tunes. He’d drag us by our ears down the van.

REEVES: No, man. I was always there, prompt and ready.

PHOENIX: But he had to drag me by the ear down to the van. I’m very stubborn about getting up in the morning.

REEVES: Yeah, man. But I knew that Matt would grab me by the ear, too, so I’d just hang out.

PHOENIX: Yeah, Keanu would wait downstairs with his script in hand, ready to get I the van, and I would be upstairs fumbling for my clothes, although I usually sleep with my clothes on.

POWELL: Gus was pretty spontaneous about what scenes you shot each day, wasn’t he?

PHOENIX: I have no clue. I don’t know what he fuckin’ decided to shoot what or where or when or why, man.

POWELL: Well, when you woke up in the morning didn’t you know what scene you were going to shoot?

REEVES: Generally, yeah. I’m sure that was other people telling Gus, “You need to know what you’re going to do tomorrow.” I don’t know if that was necessarily his personal impetus, but I think the machine was asking him what we were going to do so that we could be ready.

POWELL: The movie starts in Portland, moves to Idaho, then to Italy. While filming sequentially, did anything develop that you couldn’t have anticipated at the beginning?

PHOENIX: The campfire scene was definitely a combination of Keanu and me working together off-set, fucking around with improv, talking about our characters. Getting deeper into it, we discovered a lot about our relationship within the film, and by the time we were ready to shoot the last scene in the States, we had enough insight to go a hell of a lot deeper than the script every told us it would.

SIKES: That’s the scene where Mike tells Scott that he loves him.

PHOENIX: There was a lot of deep love [in the film]. You don’t know until you see the dailies whether it comes across or not. But because we shot in sequence, we were watching the film unfold before us, and when that scene cam around we could just, like, ad-lib it.

POWELL: That campfire scene is very similar to the one you did in Stand by Me—

PHOENIX: The confession scene. It’s also similar to a scene in Running on Empty. Gus did see both movies, so maybe he sampled them.

POWELL: When I visited the set in Italy, I noticed that you were both always really sweet. You’d have gone without sleep and be really tired; yet you were always considerate to the hotel clerks, limo drivers. Everyone.

PHOENIX: Oh, yeah. We’re great guys. We are really wonderful people. I think Keanu and I are the nicest guys on the planet—with the exception of George Bush and Ronald Reagan.

REEVES: They are the sweetest guys. They’re good to their clan. We should say thank you now that we have the opportunity. “Thanks, guys!”

PHOENIX: [laughs] I’m sorry. You gave us a compliment.

POWELL: O.K. But it’s true—you did seem to demonstrate a genuine consideration for anyone you worked with on the set.

PHOENIX: But, seriously, we know what it’s like to be on the bottom. The Lord Jesus Christ has given us a chance to be on top. So we’re not going to abuse it. We’re going to be very thankful for it and gracious about the luck that we had in our positions. We’re very lucky young men. We do what we want, we get to be creative and make money.

REEVES: Right on, brother. Right on.

SIKES: So what else are you guys doing now?

PHOENIX: I want to buy a 16mm camera. I’m not committed to the idea of being a filmmaker, but I’d like to try some shorts. I really like documentaries. And I want to drive through the mountains where I used to live when I was doing this TV series [Seven Brides for Seven Brothers] when I was twelve. I’m going with my girlfriend.

REEVES: Every moment is precious. I’m trying to travel. I want to go to Paris. It’s probably just a pipe dream. I’d like to read some books. Take some voice lessons.

SIKES: To do more Shakespeare, perhaps?

REEVES: Um, who knows? I really would like to do Shakespeare with River. I think we’d have a hoot. We could do A Midsummer Night’s Dream or Romeo and Juliet.

PHOENIX: I’ll be Juliet.

 

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19 of Keanu Reeves’ early films

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Paul Lynch Flying (1986)
‘Olivia d’Abo stars as Robin, a teenage girl who likes gymnastics. Really likes gymnastics. As in, I hope you enjoy watching gymnastics, because that’s what you’re going to be doing for the next two hours. Also of interest is the fact that Flying marks Keanu Reeves’ first film appearance. With less screen time than you might expect, Keanu finds himself in a losing battle to out-Ducky Jon Cryer as lovable loser Tommy. And the unrequited love of Tommy is not this film’s only veiled allusion to Pretty in Pink? Robin is a girl “from the wrong side of the tracks” in love with hunky rich guy Mark, and she even seems to be sharing a wardrobe designer with Molly Ringwald. Those curious enough to pick up a copy of the film for Keanu’s appearance alone might actually find that scenes of stunt doubles twirling away on parallel bars are a welcome break from trying to figure out his vacant expressions.’ — Canuxploitations

the entire film

 

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John Mackenzie Act of Vengeance (1986)
‘Fact-based story about the corruption that occurred during the United Mine Workers’ 1969 presidential elections. Jock Yablonski was a loyal follower of then chief Tony Boyle. That all changed after 80 men are killed in an unsafe West Virginia coal mine and Boyle defended the mine owners. At his wife’s urging and in fear of his life, Yablonski launched his campaign. And in fact, he became the target of assassins. The film stars Charles Bronson, Ellen Burstyn, and Keanu Reeves.’ –– collaged

Excerpts

 

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Tim Hunter River’s Edge (1986)
‘One of the greatest movies ever. River’s Edge is a 1986 film about a group of high school kids. One of them murders their friend and the rest cover it up. Listen to this cast: Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye and Dennis Hopper, among others. The soundtrack includes Slayer, the Wipers and Agent Orange. It’s loosely based on the 1981 murder of Marcy Renee Conrad. I actually watched it on LSD once, but would not recommend it.’ — Lost at E Minor

Trailer

Excerpt

KEANU REEVES on his experiences in River’s Edge

 

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Clive Donner Babes in Toyland (1986)
‘While Walt Disney’s 1961 filmization of Victor Herbert’s Babes in Toyland pales in comparison to the 1934 movie version starring Laurel & Hardy, the Disney film is an unqualified classic when compared to the ill-starred 1986 TV version. Adapted for television by playwright Paul Zindel, the 1986 film stars Drew Barrymore as Lisa Piper, a contemporary girl whisked off Wizard of Oz fashion to Toyland. Here her friends and family from the “real” world are reincarnated as villainous Barnaby (Richard Mulligan), Old Mother Hubbard (Eileen Brennan), Jack-Be-Nimble (Keanu Reeves) et. al. Only “March of the Toys” and “Toyland” have been retained from the original Victor Herbert score; the rest of the songs were specially written for this adaptation by Leslie Bricusse-and, suffice to say, these were hardly classics.’ — rovi

Excerpt

Deleted scene

 

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Marisa Silver Permanent Record (1988)
‘The opening shot of Permanent Record is ominous and disturbing, and we don’t know why. In an unbroken movement, the camera tracks past a group of teenagers who have parked their cars on a bluff overlooking the sea, and are hanging out casually, their friendship too evident to need explaining. There seems to be no “acting” in this shot, and yet it is superbly acted because it feels so natural that we accept at once the idea that these kids have been close friends for a long time. Their afternoon on the bluff seems superficially happy, and yet there is a brooding quality to the shot, perhaps inspired by the lighting, or by the way the camera circles vertiginously above the sea below.’ — Roger Ebert

Trailer

Excerpt

 

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Ron Nyswaner The Prince of Pennsylvania (1988)
‘The hero of The Prince of Pennsylvania is a sullen teen-age boy named Rupert Marshetta (Keanu Reeves), who is locked in battle with his father. Already, there’s a problem: the father, a stubborn, difficult, long-suffering coal miner named Gary Marshetta (Fred Ward), is nevertheless a great deal more likable than his loutish and self-involved son. This problem is greatly emphasized when Rupert and an older girlfriend, Carla Headlee (Amy Madigan), decide to kidnap Gary so they can raise enough money to leave their small Pennyslvania town. This scheme will seem both cruel and inefficient to audiences who wish Rupert would get moving in a hurry. The Prince of Pennsylvania, which strives for droll, idiosyncratic humor, is in its own way as narrow and limited as the small-town life it means to skewer.’ — Janet Maslin

Excerpt

Excerpt

 

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Stephen Frears Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
‘A baby-faced Keanu Reeves plays the Chevalier Raphael Danceny in Steven Frears’s adaptation of the bodice-ripping French novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The film was nominated for seven Oscars and won three, catapulting a 24-year-old Reeves into the limelight. The film was shot entirely on location in France, specifically in the région of Île-de-France, and featured historical buildings such as the Château de Vincennes in Val-de-Marne, the Château de Champs-sur-Marne, the Château de Guermantes in Seine-et-Marne, the Château du Saussay in Essonne, and the Théâtre Montansier in Versailles.’ –– collaged

Excerpt

 

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Stephen Herek Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
‘Preoccupied with plans for ‘a most triumphant video’ to launch their two-man rock band, The Wyld Stallyns, they’re suddenly, as Bill put it, ‘in danger of flunking most heinously’ out of history. Through brief, perilous stops here and there, they end up jamming Napoleon, Billy The Kid, Sigmund Freud, Socrates, Joan of Arc, Genghis Khan, Abraham Lincoln and Mozart into their time-traveling phone booth. Each encounter is so brief and utterly cliched that history has little chance to contribute anything to this pic’s two dimensions. Reeves, with his beguilingly blank face and loose-limbed, happy-go-lucky physical vocabulary, and Winter, with his golden curls, gleefully good vibes and ‘bodacious’ vocabulary, propel this adventure as long as they can.’ — Variety

Trailer

Excerpt

 

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Ron Howard Parenthood (1989)
‘Noisy but charming family comedy, noteworthy because it was one of Keanu Reeves’ (then 25) first films, as a horny lover. The film was nominated for two Academy Awards: Dianne Wiest for Best Supporting Actress and Randy Newman for Best Song for “I Love to See You Smile”. The film was adapted into a NBC television series on two separate occasions, in 1990 and again in 2010.’ — collaged

Excerpt

Behind the scenes

 

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Lawrence Kasdan I Love You to Death (1990)
‘Lawrence Kasdan’s black comedy about a wife’s ultimate revenge against her womanizing husband is based on a true story about the wife of a pizzeria owner who decided to kill her cheating husband. When her attempt to murder him failed, the husband refused to press charges against her because he felt she had done the right thing. The people she hires to do her husband in are of the cut-rate variety and are unsuccessful. They then try to knock Joey off by feeding him barbiturate-laced spaghetti, but also to no avail. Rosalie then enlists pizzeria employee Deco Nod (River Phoenix), who has a crush on Rosalie, to do the job. But even then, they have no luck. As a last resort, they try to hire professionals. What they get instead are two drugged-out junkies — Harlan (William Hurt) and Marlin (Keanu Reeves).’ — collaged

Excerpt

Excerpt

 

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Jon Amiel Tune In Tomorrow (1990)
‘In “Tune in Tomorrow,” Peter Falk is an oddball scriptwriter who lights a fire under New Orleans in the 1950s with his sizzly radio soap operas full of passion, incest, intrigue and other vicarious enticements. A tremendous seriocomic performer — from “The In-Laws” to the “Columbo” series to his memorable angel’s role in Wim Wenders’s “Wings of Desire” — Falk is easily the best thing about this production. But in director Jon Amiel’s version of Mario Vargas Llosa’s “Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter,” the movie spends too much time with the Aunt and not enough with the Scriptwriter. Barbara Hershey, who plays the Aunt, doesn’t turn out a bad performance so much as an ineffective one. She and Keanu Reeves, whose affair is supposed to be “Tune In’s” main attraction, manage to be the least interesting people in New Orleans. She’s an eccentric widow. He’s a fledgling radio writer at WXBU, and her nephew by marriage, who becomes obsessed with her. But this older-woman-eager-lad affair leaves the Crescent City and heads straight for Dullsville in a hurry.’ — The Washington Post

Excerpt

Excerpt

 

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Kathryn Bigelow Point Break (1991)
‘A modest box-office hit when it was released 20 years ago, the extreme sports/heist/action flick Point Break has become one of the most beloved cult-action movies of all time. Its premise, in which Keanu Reeves’ undercover cop Johnny Utah infiltrates the “ex-presidents” — a gang of thrill-seeking Los Angeles surfers led by Patrick Swayze’s Bodi, who don rubber masks while robbing banks — set the tone for such modern action hits as The Town and The Fast and the Furious. Although movie buffs have championed the merits of the edge-of-your-seat, adrenaline-pumping flick for years, the cult classic gained further steam with the production of “Point Break LIVE!” — a “reality play” that allows an unrehearsed audience member to join the cast to tackle Reeves’ role of Utah, reading cue cards from the stage.’ — ABC

Excerpt

Excerpt

 

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Gus Van Sant My Own Private Idaho (1991)
‘Released in 1991, Idaho was Van Sant’s third feature film and remains his most anarchic and, in many ways, ambitious. It’s certainly the film where his art school sensibility and the postmod-ernist aesthetics that dominated the art world during the seventies and eighties are most in play. Van Sant attended the Rhode Island School of Design from 1971 to 1975 (among his schoolmates were David Byrne and other members of the Talking Heads), shifting his focus from painting to film partway through his time there. The explosion of the sixties underground film scene was over, but Andy Warhol was still an influence, as were Kenneth Anger and other avant-garde film diarists who toted their 16mm and Super-8mm cameras everywhere. The toughness of his previous film Drugstore Cowboy, the director’s obvious empathy with alienated adolescents, and his talent for getting shockingly genuine perfor-mances from his actors helped him land the then teenage idols, Phoenix and Reeves, for My Own Private Idaho.’ — Amy Taubin

Excerpt

Keanu Reeves introduces My Own Private Idaho at the Toronto International Film Festival

 

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Francis Ford Coppola Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
‘candys1: Keanu Reeves cannot act to save his life as proven here in this clip! he sucks! But I would totally bone him!!! gOtHiCxAnGeLxox: I don’t like Keanu Reeves but, he was SUPPOSED to act like that. The whole point of his character was to represent the common man at the time – strict, formal, overly-polite and entirely dull. That was one of the main reasons why Dracula was such a catch! jennybeanSMC: Or you’re just jealous that Keanu’s a million times richer than you. yellowcougar18: Keanu has actually said that he regrets doing this movie (and Coppola regretted casting him also) because, by his own admission, he was not good. He had starred in a string of movies back to back, and he said that, quite literally, there was nothing left in the tank afterwards. He was just worn out, hence why he himself admits his acting was quite poor.’ — collaged

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Bernardo Bertolucci Little Buddha (1993)
‘Photographed gorgeously by cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, Little Buddha is graced with sweet-natured lamas, stunning sights from the Himalayas and — in the wackiest bit of casting since George Burns played God — Keanu Reeves as the Buddha. Few will believe this without seeing for themselves, but Reeves is rather charming in the role. Bertolucci intermixes high art with childlike wonder, blatant special effects with tacit spirituality. The movie, which also stars Bridget Fonda and Chris Isaak, may initially seem superficial and commercially pandering, like something Steven Spielberg would have conceived. But it is remarkably devoid of cloying sentimentality. As someone once said about the films of Max Ophuls, Little Buddha is only superficially superficial.’ — TWP

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Tom Stern and Alex Winter Freaked (1993)
‘Originally conceived as a low-budget horror film featuring the band Butthole Surfers, Freaked went through a number of rewrites, eventually developing into a black comedy set within a sideshow, which was picked up by 20th Century Fox for a feature film. After several poor test screenings and a change in studio executives who then found the film too “weird”, the movie was pulled from a wide distribution and only played on a handful of screens in the United States.’ — Wikipedia

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Kenneth Branagh Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
‘In the history of film adaptations of Shakespeare, certain performances have so captured the essence of a character that the actor and role are forever linked afterwards. There is Olivier’s Hamlet, Olivier’s Richard III, Welles’ Othello, and Keanu Reeves’ Don John. Wait … did I say Keanu Reeves? How can I include the Maestro of the Monotone — “ the Duke of “Dude!” and the Wizard of “Whoa!” — in such company? As the villainous Don John in Kenneth Brannagh’s 1993 Much Ado About Nothing, does Reeves reach some heretofore unattained height of thespian mastery? Well, no. This is the same Reeves whose portrayal of Jonathan Harker in Bram Stoker’s Dracula elicited winces and guffaws from audiences nationwide. And, in fairness, this is the same Reeves whose gift for looking intense, befuddled and blank has led to superb performances in Parenthood, Speed and Matrix. Indeed, for the most part, Reeves’ most effective and enjoyable performances occur when he assumes one of the two archetypes over which he is the undisputed master — the “dude” (Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Parenthood) and the “quiet, intense action guy” (Speed, Matrix).’ — Michael Burgin

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Gus Van Sant Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994)
‘Delayed for a year while Van Sant did some serious re-editing, this adaptation of Tom Robbins’ novel (originally published in 1976) only serves to prove how unadaptable the book was. It aims to be a hip slice of 70s counter-culture cinema but it’s hard to be moved by Sissy’s psychedelic trip through political activism and the New York high-life. Unlike the book, which retains some humanity amid philosophical digressions and flowery dialogue, Van Sant’s film is cold and the gallery of eccentrics merely come across as vulgar caricatures. The cast do their best with the stilted dialogue, and Thurman projects the right air of innocence, but the best performance is by Angie Dickinson as the ranch’s uptight manager. Ultimately, not even the combined efforts of her and Hurt can rescue this film.’ — whoa is (not) me

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Robert Longo Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
‘”Johnny Mnemonic” is one of the great goofy gestures of recent cinema, a movie that doesn’t deserve one nanosecond of serious analysis but has a kind of idiotic grandeur that makes you almost forgive it. Based on a story by William Gibson, the father of cyberpunk fiction, it has the nerve to pose as a futuristic fable when in fact all of its parts were bought off the shelf at the Used Movie Store. The problem is, “Johnny Mnemonic” uses the cyber-visuals entirely as atmosphere. Take them away, and the plot could be a 1946 B picture, right down to and including the concocted deadly deadline after a machine in the Newark airport scans him and announces, “Neural seepage! Fatal within 24 hours! Seek medical attention immediately!”) The fiction of Gibson is much prized on college campuses, where, I am tempted to say, its fans know more about cyberspace than about fiction. That’s why it’s puzzling that this movie is so dumb about computers. Where did it get the notion that the best way to get information from Beijing to Newark would be to hand it to a courier and have him travel the distance? Hey, a lot of people went to a lot of trouble to invent computers and modems and satellites just to make trips like that unnecessary. There have also been great advances in the art of cinema since this plot was first recycled – but that’s another story.’ — Roger Ebert

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p.s. Hey. ** Dominik, Hi!!! Cool, I probably won’t be able to start reading ‘TS’ for a couple months. It’ll be at least that long until the film’s a complete thing. Where do you think would be optimal spot on the body for a mute button? Well, love did his best, but the cut revealed that it still needs more work, though not a massive amount or anything. The haunted house sequence was still not working right, but I think — and I know I’ve said this before — that we might have solved the big problem yesterday. Love being the guy in the audience who starts clapping and inspires everyone else to clap louder and louder then rise to their collective feet in a thunderous standing ovation as love steps onstage, and the clapper guy is the young Keanu Reeves, G. ** David Ehrenstein, Hi. Yeah, what’s that syndrome … kill the father? When you meet the Buddha on the road … ? Maybe? ** _Black_Acrylic, Good for your friend. That’s quite an impressive website. ** Mark, Hi! Cool re: post = your happiness. I got a delivery notice yesterday while I was off editing that there’s a ‘petit package’ at the post office for me, and I’m hoping it’s the zine. I’ll let you know as soon I get over there. A Kristian Hoffman zine is a cool idea. Let me share your fund raiser. (Great of you to do that.) Everyone, Here’s awesome Mark: ‘I’m doing some fund raising for ‘California Sober,’ a sex-positive feature documentary about queer people in recovery from addiction by Greek filmmaker Konstantinos Menelaou.’ Please help him/them out if you can. ** Sypha, Hey. I think you did tell me about Pirate’s Cove Adventure Golf before. Things like that really stick in my memory. It does sound very dreamy. What do you think of ‘Wuthering Heights’? ** Zak Ferguson, Thanks a lot, Zak. ** Matt N., Hi, Matt. I remember ‘Ada …’ being pretty good too. Yeah, I love watching the color correcting. And it’s magical what a huge difference it makes. Especially with our film, no doubt, because right now the color is so all over the place it looks like a jigsaw puzzle. Yes, about ‘PGL’s’ look, and probably this one too. Zac and I have a serious allergy to color over-saturation and filters and that kind of stuff that 99.9% of films use without even thinking. You’re a filmmaker! Very cool. And in Brazil, cool again. Your interests are super interesting. Is it possible to describe or talk about your films a little, what they’re like or what you want them to be, or …? I know that’s a tough question. I only saw ‘Cruising’ when it was first released way back when. There was such a huge controversy around itat the time  that it was hard to watch it in a pure way, and I don’t really remember what I thought. I’ve been meaning to see it again. It interests you, yes? Really glad you’ve come back. ** Ollie🐻, I have a friend who has resting grumpy face. It’s kind of nice except that when he’s actually grumpy, his face looks kind of scary. I think it’s safe to say I have an interest in architecture and building/ engineering, yes. I did do a pneumatic tube day, yes. Wow, weird of me, ha ha. I’ve never had a 9 to 5 job. I did journalism a lot for a while. I was a student advisor to art students at a university for a while. My books have never made very much money, so, yeah, it’s been pretty broke/stressful for me for periods, for sure. But worth it. I’ve known guys who were escorts who saw their work as being acts of charity and kindness (even though they charged for it). Love back to you and whatever food you want. I think I might try to talk Zac into a Mexican food lunch break today maybe. ** Cody Goodnight, Hi. I’m okay, just swamped with film work and trying to survive a bad heatwave we’re going through. I’ll get ‘Karma’ ASAP. And hopefully some real karma too. I’m a massive fan of Godard, so I recommend everything of his. ‘La Chinoise’ is kind of a toughy, but, yeah, it’s great according to me. I do like lasagna, the vegetarian kind of course. But, yes, yum. Did you have some yesterday? Great and hopefully not hot day to you! ** Steve Erickson, Hi. Shit, I hate when the blog gets weird. I think Friday for the locked in edit is too optimistic. There’s still a lot to do. Maybe Saturday or Monday. We can’t wait any longer than that. ** Kyler, Hi, Kyler! Thanks, pal! Editing its getting there, and I hope everything you’re doing is getting there. ** ellie, Hi! I only had the chance to take first longish looks at your tumblr work, but I love it. I’m going to stare and dwell when I get more time. There’s something in the work that keys into the gif fiction work I do, or rather into my interest in making it, and I want to think/investigate your work more to subdivide that recognition. Thank you! Really beautiful! American tourists tend to kind of shout when they speak their terrible French when they really should be speaking it in a shy, humble way that would endear the French to them. Thank you again, Ellie. I feel inspired. ** Right. I can’t imagine having to explain why I decided the restore the blog’s old young Keanu day, but maybe that’s just me? See you tomorrow.