El Cosmico here, well, here we are in the midst of Butt-Numb-A-Thon's first feature, the truly outstanding DESTINATION MARS. Probably the first truly inspired bit of work that I've seen done on DV. Anyway, you'll be hearing enough about that soon enough, especially if the Sci-Fi Channel is wise enough to pick it up.
Since I've already seen it, I thought I'd take this time to write a couple of reviews of other works of quality. Sadly, our theatres are filled these days with loads of crap, but soon enough, fine films of taste will arrive. I saw a couple of these yesterday, but haven't had time to write them up until now.
The first of these is FINDING FORRESTER, the new film from Gus Van Sant, and starring Sean Connery. Now, I'm not really a huge fan of Gus, I think he usually does a fair job, and while I like Sean Connery as a personality (you may have seen his recent fine handling of Jay Leno on the Tonight Show), let's face it, the fellow has made some pretty average films. So, I can't say I was expecting much, other than an attempt at hokey feel-goodedness.
The film revolves around a student, played EXPERTLY by Rob Brown, whom I've never seen before, but who clearly deserves a long career. Brown's character meets Connery's Forrester character, who assists his intellectual pursuits against all of the odds placed against him, including the foil character played by F. Murray Abraham.
Along the way, Brown meets up with and befriends Anna Paquin, who is in my opinion one of the few young actresses with a real sense of taste and quality. Not only is she consistently charming, she continues to pick intelligent roles and show that she clearly deserves them.
F. Murray Abraham's teacher character is perhaps the least strong of the film's characters, some of the other local reviewers I spoke with afterward felt that his character was a bit too much of a cliche, as the mean old teacher who can do nothing but impede the progress of someone whom he should be helping. I didn't share that opinion, since I think the character is a bit more complex than that (as the story bears out), and since I've known professors who are exact copies of this character. In any case, he does come off a bit Salieri-like. Some will be bothered by this, but I don't think it's a significant issue.
Most noteworthy, of course, is Connery's performance as Forrester. I honestly think that this is one of the best performances he's EVER committed to film. Certainly, in the last two decades. We all know how much screen presence the fellow has, but unfortunately, his choices have usually ranged from average to above average at best. Well, in Forrester, he has found a truly excellent character, and played the role PERFECTLY. Flawlessly. Truly impressive.
Beyond that, the writing behind FINDING FORRESTER is excellent at nearly every turn, much better than I expected after seeing the preview. There were a great many times when I found myself thinking "Damn, that's a fine bit of writing." Many, many times, in fact.
So, in a time when worthy films are few and far between, FINDING FORRESTER is one of the few works that is actually worth paying full price for.
Well, I'm going to get some food. More to come from Butt-Numb-A-Thon as the horror progresses...if you want to get email through to us here, I'll be checking mine, and I can pass your kind words along.
