This Fly Fishing Movie is So Close…
Several months back I wrote up a sarcasm-laced review of several of the overdone and cliche-drenched films I had noticed creeping into the 2014 Fly Fishing Film Tour. I say this almost apologetically now. I’ll quickly explain before getting to the review.
Yes, it got some laughs (an indication that there was some truth to it), but based on the reaction of a few of the filmmakers to that post, I felt maybe I was too harsh. I sympathize with their position. There isn’t currently much money in producing film tour shorts, so it’s mostly a labor of love. For those who worked extremely hard to produce their films and who seem to have taken umbrage with my snarky critique, I get it. I understand the criticism stings and I feel bad for offending a few of my brothers, sisters, and friends in fly fishing.
While I understand the push back to my criticism and feel bad, I stand by those opinions.
Why?
I want to inspire better fly fishing films. I want really good authentic stories, framed by stellar footage and all the well-produced details that make great film. There’s a reason Warren Miller and his ilk, including most fly fishing film festival shorts, will always be a niche. The narrative structure is so simple it gets boring as soon as the killer epic footage and pounding beat repeats itself, even once.
We need good story tellers making great films about life, framed and inspired by fly fishing. In short, we need more of A River Runs Through It. There are some great filmmakers doing some great things. We just need it all to come together. And this brings me to this film, Only the River Knows, and its filmmakers: Peter Christensen, Rolf Nylinder, Smatis Eskjaer, Kokkaffe Media and crew. These guys may just have what it takes.
Just after my aforementioned sarcastic review I was contacted by Peter. He boldly and graciously asked if I would review Only the River Knows and impressively asked me not to hold anything back. So here it is.
Disclosure: I was already aware of this film and I had seen the short that had been screened at the IF4, I believe in 2013. My thoughts on that short version were that it was missing vital story elements, but that the footage was really interesting. Now I know more about what the film makers had mind.
Review: Only the River Knows
Not Rated, 123 minutes (screener version), available for purchase at www.onlytheriverknows.com
(Spoiler alert: this review does reveal significant plot points.)
Only the River Knows is the story, by my estimation partially true but more fictional, of modern day fly fishing bums and filmmakers Rolf and Peter. The two Scandinavian trout bums begin the story by recording, documentary style, their seemingly real struggle to catch the difficult and large browns of New Zealand’s wild South Island.
As Rolf struggles to catch a single trout and Peter records the failures, the pair stumbles upon one of New Zealand’s famous wilderness huts. Inside they discover the journal of one Lars Lenth. Credits indicate that Lars is an actual person, but whether or not the journal thing actually happened, I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter as far as the the film plot is concerned. Some of the early scenes are a little raw and a bit much, but Rolf’s genuine reactions to situations and one-liners are absolutely priceless. You cannot help but like this guy. He’s driven to fish and honest in his portrayal.
Now, on to Lars. By his lucid account, Lars seems to be both an extraordinarily observant documentarian and a talented angler. His journal, which is narrated over some beautiful footage, is well penned and the voice-overs of his exploits on these same New Zealand waters some 25 years earlier are exceptionally well executed. The flash back sequences of Lars’ days gone by are at once well-shot, scored well, and edited well.
The first half of the film with its juxtaposition of Lars’ dreamy memory scenes with the hand-held documentary-style modern day footage of Rolf and Peter, marks the high point of the film. Really and honestly, this was nearly the high point of any fly fishing inspired film I’ve seen, Redford’s included. Having visited New Zealand, it was authentic and inspiring.
Neither Odysseus, nor Beowulf show themselves, but the South Island fishing footage could rightfully be described as “epic.” The authenticity is there and you start to actually believe this whole saga. I was pulled into the story like I rarely have been in a “fly fishing” film. My feeling at about the half-way point was that this was a truly interesting and well-conceived film. I couldn’t wait to see where it was going.
The journal seems to inspire Rolf and he is successful in catching an incredible South Island trout as he follows in Lars’ footsteps. Rolf’s honest excitement is palpable and fun to watch. Once again, you just like this guy.
After returning home the plan seems to be to mail off the journal to Lars with a video message of appreciation. This, in itself would have made a solid, albeit short, film, but the story continues for some reason.
Rolf sets out to return the journal and instead decides to hand deliver and meet the legendary Lars. This is where a bunch of weirdness happens. I won’t go into the details except to say the plot becomes contrived, even silly, and the acting starts to break down. Only a couple of fishing scenes at the end are again mildly entertaining and authentic, but only to an angler, not to someone watching this as a narrative film. My guess is that the filmmakers felt compelled to extend the film out to standard feature length and dropped in additional footage they had from other adventures.
This was a mistake.
The early footage of New Zealand exploits feels like an authentic travelogue recognizable and relatable for every trout angler who has ever felt a little out of their element on new and challenging water. Their sometimes goofy, catchingly exuberant, realistic disappointment and honest portrayal here feels entirely authentic (I believe this is in fact just the real filming of the guys’ adventure.) You rarely see this kind of authenticity in the fly fishing portions of a narrative film (For example: see The River Why for an excessively inauthentic portrayal of the sport). These guys can fish, they talk fishing the right way, and they show the actual fishing in actual locations with actual fish. Add to this that Peter and crew are obviously talented filmmakers and you get a truly great half of a film.
The second half is a flop for every reason that bad movies are usually flops. The plot isn’t believable and the acting isn’t good.
So, overall, I have to say that Only the River Knows is an incredible effort. I’m sure these guys had a tiny budget and called in a lot of favors, which makes it all the more remarkable. I recommend that anyone interested in fly fishing and especially fly fishing filmmaking see it. Go to their site and buy it, please.
This film could have been so good, and the good parts are very good and worth seeing. But, as it stands, it’s mostly a cautionary tale in what not to do in order to avoid ruining a good thing.
A Couple of Words of Advice
My advice for Peter, Rolf, and crew, and whomever else is out there making fly fishing narrative film, is probably not wanted and should be taken for what it is. But, I would say that, first, keep it up, please. Just do it with a strong script and a laser focus on authenticity throughout. In addition, a small suggestion, but if future films are to be in English and distributed to a North American audience I would also suggest working with a native English speaker to quickly iron out the dialogue.
Stronger story editing could have saved this project from the absurd direction it takes and given us a really good fly fishing film. It was almost the best I’ve seen.