Finding Forrester
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Movie Reviews of Finding Forrester
Movie Review: An excellent screenwrite, Connery couldn't be better, A+
Summary: 5 Stars
Harlem is a place where even the police are afraid to patrol at night. Scene's of car fires highlight the darkness of the evening as Jamal walks home in the pouring rain. Jamal and his brother live with their mother in the apartment projects. Jamal's brother works as a parking supervisor. Jamal's father is no longer with them, he had a problem with drinking and one day, his father got tried of trying and abandon the family. The family homelife and environment does not become a dismal factor in the movie. For the most part, the director moves the characters environment into a rich private prestigous academic setting and Forrester's book filled think tank home. Forrester apartment becomes the holy sancuary for the exchange of ideas, it is a place where social idioms are excluded.
Jamal mimicks an strong adoration to be the next Michael Jordon. Basketball is a vehicle for gaining acceptance with his friends, but writing is his real passion. To remain popular Jamal maintains average class room test scores but his intelligence test scores reveal phenomenial intelligence to everyones surprise. Jamal's mother is shocked at her son's performance and tells the principle that she sees Jamal's constantly reading books and writing but never believed he was so intelligent. Jamal defiance surrounding a young black boy stereotype painting him as ignorant; this annoys him as so he humilates the owner of a BMW with historical BMW triva. Jamal seems very vocal about hipocracy and patronization.
The director explores some of the common stereotypes about young black boys. But stereotypes is not what this film is about, so alot of the darker realities are disquised in humor or confrontation.
Jamal's scores attract the attention of a private school who is willing to pay for his tutution in return for him coming to learn and play basketball. Why do they want Jamal: Brain power build prestige, prestige attacks money, and money keeps the school going. So why did Jamal need to play basketball? The story line breaks into two themes. Jamal must prove he has something to offer the rich private school community: A basketball state champions and quality submission for the annual writing contest. Forcing the theme, "an athletic scholar." It seems like the basketball had very little to do with the story.
The director created a very believable scenerio about how Jamal meets Forrester. Jamal plays basketball with his friends on the basketball court outside his apartment. The friends talk about Forrester, who seems to watch something, everyday from his balcony window. Jamal later learns that Forrester is a bird watcher. The original strangeness of Forrester behavior leads his friend to a challenge him to take something from Forrester's apartment. Jamal takes the dare. The challenge goes bad, as Forrester spoils Jamals dare by surprising him. In the process of fleeing, Jamal drops his backpack in Forrester's home. Later Forrester puts the backpack in the window taunting Jamal. Eventually Forrester throws Jamal his backpack. Upon inspecting the contents and notes, Jamal realizes Forrester has add comments to his notes. Jamal returns to Forrester's apartment and wants him to read more of his writing. Forrester tells Jamal to write five thousand words why you should stay out of my house.
Forrester agrees to review some other writings by Jamal. Jamal engages in small talk for which Forrester tells Jamal that "Asking questions is to get information you need."
Start typing, sometimes the rythm of punching the keys will start the flow of ideas. Forrester encourages confident telling Jamal to punch the keys. Forrester gives Jamal a publisher article to copy and creating into his own story, telling Jamal sometimes using another story will help create a story that is uniquely yours. Jamal sits in confusion. Forrester tells him when your creating the draft write from your heart. After your done proof the writing with you head, concluding the best feeling in the world is when you've finished your first draft before the editors cut it up and change it. Forrester viewed writing as intellectual liberation.
Jamal assumed Forrester's book was not popular which lead to a challenge for him to acquire a copy. The public library had twenty four copies of his book and all the copies were checked out, so Jamal had to be put on the waiting list.
Jamal follows Forresters technique in using a conjunction to start a sentence.
The F word is used as an emotional expression, first by Forrester when yelling at Jamal for breaking into his home, and second by Jamal when Forrester refuses to defend him from the board.
Harlem changed, Forrester didn't. Its been fifty years since Forrester went out among people. His first experience going out into public was a basketball game that lead to a disaster with Forrester cowarying in a supply closet until Jamal found him. Jamal takes Forrester to a baseball stadium built by Babe Ruth on his birthday.
Why did Forrester only write one book? Forrester and his brother were very close before the war. They would go to the baseball games together. After the war, his brother start to drink heavily. Forrester promised his mother, he would help his brother through this time. The nurse tells Forrester his book meant so much to him as his brother was dieing.
Friendship and privacy provide the cohesive element to Jamal and Forrester relation. Jamal promises to protect the identity of Forrester. Jamal promised the writings created in the apartment would stay their. Jamal comes under scrutiny from the private school professor because of his dramatic improvement in writing skill. Jamal comes under the influence of dangerous terms with the professor, he has embarrassed. Jamal submits work labeled under a title Forrester has published in the New Yorker. The professor researches the title and wants to expel Jamal. Jamal want Forrester to clear him, but Forrester wants to maintain his anonymous nature. Friction developes between the mentor and student.
Later a trade is negotiated between Jamal and the board. Jamal will help the school win the basketball championship and everything will be dropped. Jamal throws the game. Obviously, academic excellence becomes more important than athletics to Jamal. This seems to be the director's secondary theme's intent. Forrester comes to Jamals school and reads a letter sent to him after the failed game. Charges against Jamal are drop by the chairman of the board. Jamal is esteemed as a brilliant sixteen year writer. Forrester leaves for his home land of Scottland and dies of cancer.
Movie Review: The Integrity of Friendship
Summary: 5 Stars
When I dropped by in a dvd/vcd store, i found 'Finding Forrester' in a shelf together with other great titles. I am a person who loves to see inspiring and thought-moving films and I'm fond of it and in fact collecting them as much as possible. With my tight budget I have so far, I can't resist to buy another one and thus, I bought 'Finding Forrester'. Soon when I arrived home, I immediately viewed it. I did not read the short synopsis at the back of the dvd/vcd because I want myself to be drawn unto the movie and most especially its story.'Finding Forrester' is a movie that tells how important the integrity of friendship inspite of race differences, talents, level of intelligence or others that might be consider as a standard. William Forrester played by Sean Connery is an eccentric novelist with ill-tempered manners but a compassionate and well-depth person that ideally can be considered as a true mentor. Rob Brown is a newcomer actor who played Jamal Wallace, an Afro-American gifted-person in writings who at the same excels in basketball game. His performance was fair enough in giving justice to his character however, it is much better if he gives more 'life' or an 'emotional magic' to some scenes that needed most. I don't want him to be ultra-emotional but a little bit of stress of feelings to his character may somehow move the viewers.
Sean Connery gave a brilliant performance to his character, he really personified what a novelist is, giving also justice to the fears and hopes of a novelist which he strongly portrayed. He showed us a picture (somehow) of how life can be for a novelist who after the fame of receiving Pulitzer-award...what comes next? what will the future will bring me to? how far i should be like this?---questions we sometimes asks in ourselves especially in our mid-life stage. One of my favorite actors is Sean Connery but it doesn't mean to say that I'll gave a plus factor for him because he's one of my favorites, to be fair enough...I really find this movie inspiring and moving if you could only watch it with understanding...you'll never mind the actors but the characters and most importantly, the story that matters most. Because of this film, I even like more Sean Connery as a well-deserved respect as an actor. Truly a brilliant actor. But the essence of this movie is all about friendship...if you are expecting to be a 'glorious' 'triumphant' movie at the end which the hero won in a contest or something...you better not expect that although there is a contest in the movie but it is not much emphasized or gave too much focus but the mutual friendship of both main characters. Integirty became a vital ingredient and important gem of the story. Integrity that keeps friendship so strong and lasts forever till the end. It happend to William Forrester and Jamal Wallace. This movie truly teach you the importance of Integrity in a friendship. A plus also in this movie, is the soundtrack...r&b is the theme which fits actually in the setting of this film. I love to hear all over again the themesong 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' and 'What a Wonderful World' which was beautifully done in acoustic manner.
Brilliant casts...outstanding performance...very good scripting...I hope you'll find it too when you watch 'Finding Forrester'...
Movie Review: A great example of a movie that can teach you a lesson.
Summary: 5 Stars
I felt that this was a fabulous movie for many reasons. First, the actors that they chose to play the parts were wonderful. Sean Connery as William Forrester was a great part. I felt that the caliber of actors that were present in this film really helped to make it a great work. The story line and plot of the movie were also great, which helped to make the movie very easy to watch. I believe that throughout this show the author was trying to get across two main points: Things are never as they may seem, and you cannot try to predict how another person will act. The story opened with a young black kid from the Bronx, Jamal Wallace. At the beginning he is like any other high school kid trying hard to fit in at school. He knows that he is smart and loves to write books, but he does not feel that this will gain him any attention at school. Instead of using his brain to make him excel, he uses his basketball skills. This is how he finds a link between himself and the world. Eventually he takes a standardized test that catches the attention of some private schools. Jamal visits these schools but does not know whether he wants to leave his friends. He is left with the choice of staying where he is or pursuing his future at a private school, where he has the chance to excel in his writing and basketball, and possibly a love life.
As he is dealing with this he has another matter on his mind. He has become friends with an old hermit (Sean Connery) who never leaves his downtown apartment. Throughout the story these two characters become better friends. They help one another to become better people. Each one of these characters does some unexpected things that change the tide of the friendship. The entire movie really takes you on an emotional roller-coaster. At times you find yourself really excited about the movie, while at other times you find it hard to watch because it is so sad.
This movie also has some interesting aspects that really add to the overall effect of it. First, the use of the African American dialect adds to the believability of the movie. In some movies the use of slang terms detracts from the movie, but it really helps to exemplify what this situation might have actually been like in this case.
The only part of the movie that is bad is some of the cuts between scenes. There are some very awkward cuts that leave the viewer wondering how they got from one scene to the next. This is not a major factor in deciding whether the movie was good or not, but it does seem to distract the viewer somewhat.
Overall this is a great movie. The author put a great deal of time into making a wonderful story line that really holds the reader's attention. You can also learn a great deal about life through watching this movie. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who has the desire to see a serious movie, that will not bore you to sleep.
Movie Review: Much Appreciated
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm not a film analyst, and I won't pretend to be. I wasn't sure I would like this film, based on the reviews, which were favorable. That's because I didn't know whether I could trust them.I suspected that reviewers may have had an axe to grind, one way or another. Sean Connery will always get good reviews for even a fair performance, his fans are that loyal. Fortunately, he doesn't mail too many performances in, so he usually satisfies in any case. Then, there is heavy black/African American content in this movie, and that can bring out higher or lower ratings, based on political or racial considerations, rather than the merits of the film.
Sean Connery's performance, to me, was indeed outstanding. His best? I save that title for The Man Who Would Be King, but this one is right up there. Rob Brown, in his first effort, was actually pretty good for a newcomer. If you notice the acting, the actor screwed up. I didn't notice it, so he must have done a good job. It might well have been a veteran actor.
Jamal's family is presented as typically semi-functional for a black neighborhood in a major American city (it looked like the Bronx to me, but it's been a long time since I've been there). His father is gone, mother is great, his brother has an honest but low paying job. Oddly, the one thing I noticed about the neighborhood is the almost total absence of crime, gangs, and drugs. That's almost total, since the only crime I saw take place was when Jamal broke into Forrester's apartment, and even that wasn't motivated by thievery. Rather it was curiosity, and he did it on a dare, like a bunch of scared kids outside a haunted house. For the writer and director to leave out the challenge of crime in that neighborhood must have been an intentional choice. Perhaps they felt Jamal already had enough challenges, and I can't fault that logic.
Forrester, of course, is being compared to writer J.D. Salinger. A fine writer who did one novel, and some magazine pieces, and was pretty much a recluse for reasons known only to him. There is another man he might be likened to, and that is radio personality, writer, and actor Jean Shepherd, who died almost two years ago on Sanibel Island, Florida. Details are different, but I sure recognize the attitude. Both men were damned hard to really know, and each had his own means of hiding out from admirers.
If there were one loose end, one might point to the fact that Forrester offered no apology to some one he deeply wronged, when he could have. It might well have been in character for him not to, though.
I won't give away anything about the ending, except to say that final scene was an eye opener, and things look really interesting for Jamal.
Finding Forrester didn't get very much publicity. I think it deserved to have more. It is a fine film.
Movie Review: The Bronx, basket ball and creative writing
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is a lot more than the story of a black boy from the Bronx finding his full realization in both basket-ball and creative writing. This film is a lot more than the skimming of black public high schools by white private high school to find the winning sportsmen they need. This film is a lot more than the story of a black teenager who finds his mentor, a father substitute since he has no father and his elder brother is not the model he wants, in a famous and yet totally marginal writer, Scottish by origin and bird-loving by choice and passion. This film is a lot more than the exacting tyrant a failed writer can become when he decides to compensate his failure in writing by becoming a creative writing and literature teacher. And this film is also a lot more than the phenomenal emotional shock it is for an aging man, diagnosed with cancer, entirely solitary and marginalized to find by accident and the insistence on the side of the foundling, the younger man who is going to be his follow-up next generation. He gets out of his cocoon. He gets out of his seclusion. Even so much that he will save his foundling from academic probation and even open up the door to his future. This film is all that together and a lot more. It is the story of loyalty, commitment and yet betrayal and salvation. Deeply emotional all along the film gets to a poignant ending when the death of the older man is announced by a lawyer to the younger man, and when this younger man is given the full legacy of the older man: the keys to the older man's den and sanctuary in the Bronx, a final farewell manuscript letter and the manuscript of his second and posthumous novel to be prefaced by the younger man. The racial problem is dealt with delicately but thoroughly showing how little race has to do with creative imagination, or even plain human love, but also that it has a lot to do with some preconceived ideas that a black basket ball player cannot be a creative writer of any excellence. A film to watch several times just for fun and emotional inspiration. You can always trace and track all the visual or situational allusions to many other films, like Matt Damon as a young lawyer. I have seen that somewhere else. Solve the many riddles of the type like the older man on his old fashioned bike cycling to the private school to save his black younger friend from ostracism and rejection. He just misses a black gown flying around him.
Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne, University Paris 8 Vincennes Saint Denis, University Paris 12 Val de Marne Créteil, CEGID.