River Phoenix had a precocious acting talent which drew directors like Sidney Lumet and Gus Van Sant to him. Of course, like Heath Ledger almost a generation later, he was gone too soon leaving behind a portfolio of work which has had people wondering about his legacy had be been alive and working these past two decades. Last week by a quirk of Internet fate, I ended up watching 3 of his films - but today, we will talk a bit about the 1989 Running on Empty.
Directed by Sidney Lumet with a warm brush, Running on Empty shows us we can never run too far away from our past. Here, the past is finally catching up with Annie and Arthur Pope. Annie (Christine Lahti) and Arthur (Judd Hirsch), wanted for bombing a napalm lab, have been on the run for 15 years. A janitor, who was not supposed to be there, was blinded in the bombing. As a young couple, their politics was to oppose the Vietnam war but now it is no longer about the politics. Now, it is all about keeping their young family together. The family uses fake identities as they move towns, lie about their childrens' certificates so that nobody noses into their past and leave pets behind with an assurance to the kids that they will find a home. The kids do not argue - they have done this for a long time.
But now, things are slowly taking a different shape. 17-year-old Danny (River Phoenix), a high school senior, has been noticed by his music teacher who is persistent that he apply to the prestigious Juilliard music school. Danny has got a girlfriend (Martha Plimpton) - the rebellious teenage daughter of the music teacher. Annie and Arthur slowly realize that they have to leave Danny behind if he has to have any future. Arthur has taught his children to stick to each other and Danny shares that belief. He does wish to stay behind with his girl and his music future but knows that if he did so, his every step dogged by the FBI. The father doesn't want to lose his eldest now - the mother's heart is breaking because she wants her son close but also doesn't want his future compromised. Once they had given up their futures for the politics, but are they justified in asking their son to make the same sacrifice for something he didn't do? It's a heart breaking decision to make for them all.
There is a scene towards the last stretch of the film when Annie meets her long estranged father. It is a powerful one because of the irony. Annie hasn't talked to her father in a long time, he asks her to surrender but he still loves his daughter. She doesn't agree with his beliefs but she is meeting her father not so much as a daughter as a parent herself. He lost her long ago and now she is going to lose her son. She is here, proud, yet begging her father to take her son in so he can go to music school. Its a sad scene - and we break along with Annie.
The performances are spot on. As viewers, we relate to this family. We relate to their phobias, their everyday moments of happiness and we feel the approaching loss.
River Phoenix received an Academy Award nomination for this film and it is easy to see why. He plays Danny with a touch of pathos and thoughtfulness that we do not often see in younger actors. His rebellious moments are not about making any teenage statements. He is all fluid emotion and poignancy. You can feel his struggle - He understands how much his parents depend on him and he loves them too but he also wants to put down roots, to have the opportunity to learn music and to enjoy a love just like his parents have.
The film may be about a couple facing consequences of their political expression years ago and its director himself certainly had leftist leanings but the film is not a political statement. Running on Empty is about family life, about parents who have given up a lot to keep their family together but they are called upon to make another harder sacrifice and about children who understand the responsibilities of a family life and the burdens that come with it.
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