Finding Forrester (2000)

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Directed by Gus Van Sant.

Starring F. Murray Abraham, Sean Connery, Busta Rhymes, Anna Paquin, Rob Brown.

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In the spirit of his Oscar-winning Good Will Hunting, Gus Van Sant directs this tale of the unlikely bond that develops between an aging, reclusive novelist named Forrester (Sean Connery) -- who hasn't written anything since winning a Pulitzer Prize decades earlier -- and Jamal (Rob Brown), a 16-year-old with a hidden desire to be a writer. When Jamal is cited for his athleticism in basketball by an elite Manhattan prep school, he is forced to adapt to an environment far from his South Bronx upbringing, and a small mishap leads him to the eccentric, uneasy Forrester. After their initial apprehension of each other, they begin to fuel each other's fire for writing, and become unlikely friends despite their ages and backgrounds. Forrester's devotion to Jamal becomes enhanced when he must defend allegations of plagiarism enforced by Professor Crawford (F. Murray Abraham), jeopardizing Jamal's future. The film also features Anna Paquin, Busta Rhymes, and Zane Copeland Jr.. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide

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Reviews and discussions

Evil hidden within great beauty.
by tadiv in tadiv Blog

loved it.

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"City Lights Pictures, in association with Whitest Pouring Films and Kilo Films, presents Manda Bala (Send a Bullet), a film by Jason Kohn. The film runs 85 minutes and is not rated by the MPAA. Based upon some of the hostage video content, this film would likely be rated NC-17 by the MPAA. Manda Bala is a documentary film covering several social and economic issues in modern Brazil. These issues include political corruption, the kidnapping of the wealthy by the poor, and resulting industries such as frog farming, specialized plastic surgery, Helicopter taxi service, and the retrofitting of automobiles to make them more or less bullet-proof.Very well photographed and cleanly edited, Manda Bala, to a great extent, lacks a central theme. This picture has a good, complimenting soundtrack. Because of a mixture of translation and subtitles, the presentation is at times awkward for the viewer. Manda Bala greatly benefits from stunning cinematography. However, while watching this film ... " [More]

Plot vs. Prestige - ‘Paranoid P ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

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"What if this movie were not directed by acclaimed filmmaker Gus Van Sant? What if it had not been honored with a special prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival? What if it had not been an official selection of the Toronto and New York Film Festivals? What if it wasn’t nominated for three (Independent) Spirit Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Producer? What if Manohla Dargis didn’t consider it, “one of the most moving and delicately felt films of Gus Van Sant’s career”? Would Paranoid Park still seem that appealing? Not to me, but then I’ve seen enough films involving teens covering up an intentional or accidental murder. And that’s despite having enjoyed most of them, including Mean Creek, Bully, George Washington and even (though much, much less so) I Know What You Did Last Summer. Honestly, if this new domestic trailer for Paranoid Park didn’t mention all its prestigious claims, I probably wouldn’t be that compelled to see it. In fact, even if it simply me ... " [More]

Finding Forerster
by JimBell in JimBell Blog

liked it.

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"I saw Finding Forester (2000) again, this time on television. It is the story of a famous, reclusive old writer (Sean Connery) who mentors a young black kid (Rob Brown). The movie has excellent acting all around and a touching happy ending. But the event that gets the young Jamal into trouble at his prep school is ludicrous. The teacher/professor belittles a kid for not knowing the author of a quotation. This goes on far longer than it would in real life and far longer than necessary for the story. When Jamal challenges the teacher, the teacher challenges the 16-year old with a series of quotations, some of which I’d never heard before, and the kid rattles off the authors, sometimes before the quotation is finished, sometimes finishing the quotation. I know that Ph.D. students in English cannot do this, so a talented ghetto teenager is unlikely to be able to do it. I wonder why movies so seldom get the classroom right. One cause of inaccuracies is externalizaton. ... " [More]

Tags: mentor , Sean-Connery , student , Loved-It , writing
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