Silent Tongue

This was not River Phoenix’s last movie. In fact it was filmed before “The thing called love”…he died whilst filming “Dark blood”. The film makers took another 19 years to complete it and it was released to a small audience in 2012. Here he plays Talbot Roe, a grief stricken cowboy who has just lost his wife and child in childbirth. He ties her body up into a tree and watches over it to protect it from vultures while slowly losing his mind. His wife has a sister, both daughters of ‘Silent tongue’ an Indian woman raped by an Irishman who is part of a travelling circus. Talbot’s father kidnaps the sister as he believes she is the only one that can save his son from complete insanity. In the meantime, Talbot’s dead wife haunts him as a ghost and will not leave him in peace until he has burnt her body on the fire and therefore, released her soul. I sat through this until the end, partly because I’m stubborn and I’ve rented it so I’ll watch it but it was very tedious and boring. I don’t like Westerns on a good day, and this was no better. It was good to see Silent Tongue get her revenge on the Irishman and to see River on screen. I can only imagine River was under the influence when he took this part, as no actor in their right mind would want to be involved in such horse poop. But I guess all actors take parts hoping the project will be better than it actually turns out to be.

Unusual plot and storyline as Indian spirits and the supernatural come into it.

Once you get into it you are compelled or I was to watch it to the end to see what happens.

Only to find the ending left you all up in the air wondering what happened to the other main players, did one live or die?

Did father and son make it back to where?

Did the son of another leave his father out in the wilderness on purpose?

Where did the dead Indian girl's sister go with all her new found wealth??

Due to poor ending its a waste of time watching it as you wonder what is going to happen or did happen to whom.

I am a huge fan of River Phoenix - I have all of his films which I rate very highly.

I have been wanting to watch this film for years but have never been able to get hold of it. When I saw it was available through Lovefilm, I ordered it straight away and put it straight on as soon as it arrived.

After about the first 20mins, I couldn't bear to watch much more. River had only been in it for about two minutes and the film was so dull, I really felt like turning it off. However, I persevered for another 10mins but then decided that there was no way I was going to get into this film. I ended up fast forwarding until the parts with River, and I have to say that I found him very disappointing in this film. He was clearly in need of help when filming and I am surprised the director didn't cast another actor - I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of his scenes were cut out!

It is very sad that this was River's final film as he was so much better than this. I just hope that people remember the talented actor he was and remember him for films such as Stand by Me and My own private Idhao - in which he was superb.

As for the film, I really can't write much about that as I missed most of it due to the fast forward functionality on my remote controls!

If you are a River fan, I would advise you to give this one a miss, as it is best to remember him the way he should be remembered. If you are not a River fan in particular, I would definately advise you to give this film a miss.

Strong acting from a good cast but not as good as expected as

direction seemed too surreal.