Tuesday, October 28, 2008

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

When - 27 October 2008
Where - Home (SD)
How - DVD from the Library

Nice film. Beautifully shot. The performances were all around excellent, especially Leo DiCaprio, who was so utterly convincing, you'd think he weren't acting (I wonder if, given his relative obscurity at the time, if people did think he was mentally handicapped... Who knows...). Still, one minor issue: the music at times felt made-for-TV-ish, which got old, especially during the moments of genuine emotion. Great script from the remarkably consistent Peter Hedges (About A Boy, Dan in Real Life, Pieces of April). Overall, it was a good film. It lived up to the expectations many people had put on it, and that's good and all. Life changing? Not really. It's not quite my style, but still, it's a great film.

Buy? - No

2 comments:

Haught Fudge said...

My favorite part of this movie? "I didn't always look like this."

"I didn't always look like this either."

Makes me tear up every time. I think its a very charitable film. Like the shot when they find out the mom died, its a wide shot of the house. Like its giving the family their personal space. Yay for movies!

Parker said...

That was a beautifully delivered line, and apparently, Juliette Lewis ad libbed it, so yay for her.

And the wide shot - I kept wanting to get closer, to see the action closer. I bugged me, but putting it into that context really makes that moment rather amazing. Thanks for that.