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Finding Forrester [2000]


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Great actors formula movie
Review date: 2008-08-30 Rating: 6 out of 10

It has been done a million times and this won't be the last time the "teacher, student, rebel," mechanism will be tried. Take one recluse (Sean Connery) and an aspiring under privileged student (Rob Brown VI) to cancel out a dysfunctional environment. They even have a common nasty antagonist (F. Murray Abraham) to pick on.
Predictability is not the problem. It starts out so noisy that you will have to turn the sound off for the first five minutes. Everything from the story to the environment to the camera shots is mediocre. Anything that may have been of use for writing or refereed to writing is glossed over with music or faded out. You can be assured this movie has nothing to do with writing other than hitting the (typewriter) keys hard enough. The characters (not that the actors did not try) had no depth. Too many things were inferred from obscure camera shots. You get the picture.



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Reviews


A fitting au revoir
Review date: 2007-11-16 Rating: 8 out of 10

Although he did another one or two films before his formal retirement, this is as good a swan song as the splendid old so-and-so deserves. Playing a character based so obviously on J D Salinger he even has the same number of syllables in his name(!) but it's all good fun - to the extent that the film really only seems to move forward when Connery is on screen.

But...it's all a bit too contrived for my taste, to many Hollywood coincidences in the script - plus Van Sant had only directed Good Will Hunting a few years earlier and this film suffers (as most would) by comparison to that. It's the sense of going back to the well one time to many.

Major gripe - the story goes on too long (SPOILER SPOLIER SPOILER!)and there's no need really to have most of the scenes after the death of Forrester - the end shot in my mind always comes back to Forrester cycling off through the heavy daytime city traffic, in his suit and coat, completely out of place but enjoying the world again.

To me, it's better that a million `Shaken, not stirred' clips in giving us a fond farewell to Mr Connery. May his tartan retirement be restful..


Very entertaining.
Review date: 2007-07-05 Rating: 8 out of 10

I can't add anything to the first two reviews which are fairly accurate regarding content although my only observation is ,that I ask myself was I entertained? and yes I was! I loved the the way the film delt with a number of very important social issues ie; arrogance, pride, racisim, bullying, face saving,rivalry, jealousy,sentiment,loyalty,forgiveness and of course the list goes on.The point is that it was made for entertainment and if you pay too much attention to detail (too many convenient co-incidences which incidentally I had not even noticed.)You miss the point I feel the film was not overstreched in its believeability and certainly achieved its aim.

well-crafted, but not original and deep enough
Review date: 2007-06-24 Rating: 6 out of 10

I must say that "Finding Forrester" is fairly satisfactory movie about friendship, romance, basketball, literature and books. Technically, everything about it seems pretty good: great sets, effective performances, excellent script, nice musical scores (especially Jazz songs by Miles Davis), highly enjoyable scenes and some stylish shots (especially those taken by handheld cameras).

Thanks to Gus Van Sant, the film features an exquisite representation of human element and strong character development. BUT, it ultimately suffers too much from lack of originality and helluva of predictability. Most of the plot is cliché-drenched, hollywoodized and utterly predictable from beginning to end.

The premise is quite identical (though not the same) with Van Sant's 1997 Oscar-winning "Good Will Hunting": a prodigy (with extraordinary talents in basketball and writing) meets and enters into a relationship with another gifted but reclusive old man, actually a brilliant Pulitzer-winning novelist who built a cocoon around himself and shutting his door to the outside world more than 40 years. Old man needs a company from outside, while prodigy needs a mentor to help him focus his intellect in writing at school, and all along that mentor-protégé relationship, both learn and grow from the experience.

If you like movies with slow beginnings but fast endings, AND don't mind being exposed to lots of "Hollywood Moments", "Finding Forrester" would be an excellent piece of picture worth watching.

On the lines of Good Will Hunting
Review date: 2007-05-22 Rating: 6 out of 10

This is one of those movies which seems more impressive when you are viewing it than on later reflection. The main plot, of a young black boy with exceptional writing ability (as well as being a basket ball ace) who - out of all the young Afro-Americans living in the Bronx - happens to stumble upon a reclusive Salinger-type writer who then mentors him, would be more suitable for a satire or stylised fable, than a would-be realistic drama. And even if writer Mike Rich was allowed to get away with the coincidental key encounter between promising pupil Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) and Pulitzer Prize-winning William Forrester (Sean Connery), he should have been sent back to his word processor when he produced a second major coincidence that Jamal's nasty English teacher at his swish Prep School (F Murray Abraham) turns out to be a failed writer with a grudge against Forrester.

Nevertheless, despite the unlikely and, in some respects, anodyne plot, the film is enjoyable for its acting, the touching father-son relationship built up between the older man and the boy, and its overall messages about the importance of both life and artistic creativity. Connery is quietly impressive as Forrester, convincingly portraying a man at first unwilling and now unable to fully engage with the outside world; and Brown gives a fine debut performance on and off the basket ball court, though possibly his part was tailored to fit his inexperience. Among the supporting cast are Busta Rhymes as Jamal's street-wise, hustling brother; Anna Paquin as his upperclass fellow pupil; and April Grace as his rather too saintly mother. The film might have been better if a little more time had been spent developing these minor characters and their relationships to Jamal, and the sentimental ending had been cut.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
F. Murray Abraham
Anna Paquin
April Grace
Sean Connery
Busta Rhymes

Creators:
Sean Connery (Primary Contributor)
Anna Paquin (Primary Contributor)

Director(s):

Recording label: Uca
Manufacturer: Uca
EAN: 5050582419962
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2006-03-06
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 131 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2000
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Bulgarian (Subtitled)
Language: Czech (Subtitled)
Language: Danish (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: Greek (Subtitled)
Language: Hebrew (Subtitled)
Language: Hindi (Subtitled)
Language: Hungarian (Subtitled)
Language: Icelandic (Subtitled)
Language: Norwegian (Subtitled)
Language: Polish (Subtitled)
Language: Swedish (Subtitled)
Language: Turkish (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)

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