Directed by:
Gus Van SantCinematography:
Jean-Yves EscoffierComposer:
Danny ElfmanCast:
Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård, Minnie Driver, Casey Affleck, Cole Hauser, Alison Folland, Vik Sahay, Scott William Winters (more)VOD (5)
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Set in working-class South Boston, a psychological drama about a 20-year-old lad who works as a janitor at MIT and spends most of his time with his coarse friends at the neighborhood bar. Blessed with a certain genius, Will, who has never attended college, can summon obscure historical references based on his exceptional photographic memory. He can also solve difficult mathematical problems with an ease that makes MIT's richer more educated students envious of him. When big shot professor Lambeau presents a math challenge to his students, with a fine reward to match, Will anonymously solves the formula on a blackboard placed in the school's corridor. Lambeau begins a search for the mysterious student, and upon finding Will takes him under his wing. It's the only way for Will to get parole after a number of run-ins with the law. Lambeau makes two conditions: that Will meet with him once a week for math session and that he begin therapy. (Turner Classic Movies)
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Reviews (10)
Such clever boys. At an age when I was writing love ballads to my teenage sweethearts and gasping for breath with socialism, Damon and Affleck came up with a truly adult script that opens up a whole range of themes glossing over a somewhat extreme example of the actually inevitable step towards adulthood, however much that means freeing oneself from selfish freedoms at the expense of a certain uniformity and generally discernible motivations such as acknowledging one's place in society or making sacrifices on the altar of love. What they’ve bitten off, however, is quite a mouthful for the two burly guys, as there are actually four storylines in the film (Damon-Williams, Damon-Driver, Damon-Affleck, and Williams-Skarsgard), even if they’re all tied to a single denominator, but especially the one depicting the slacker resignation of the Boston suburbs (the bottom of which is so perfectly portrayed by Harmony Korine in a brief cameo – heh heh you gotta love this guy), it's all too obvious that the film needs it, especially at the beginning and the end. In between, it just has to keep it alive through more or less comic scenes. Where I would have given Oscar nods like crazy would have been in the case of Minnie Driver, that girl is unreal, she defies the usual femme fatale stereotypes, clearly her character has a life outside her scenes and her relationship with Damon gets the strongest sequences, among them the excellent bed dialogue, shot only in close-ups with subdued lights, where the camera work and editing make spatial orientation impossible, reminding you of those stormy weekends when it's raining outside and you don't even know what time it is.
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I enjoyed the film a lot more than the first time I saw it. Plus, I had some good laughs watching the scenes with Ben Affleck, whose face was clenched like a person's rectum. It was a good story, you could tell that the creators put effort into it, which means I wasn’t hit by a tsunami of pathos. 4*+
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Who wouldn't like this already legendary, beautifully worn-out industrial 90's art piece full of wholesome intellectual depth, enjoyable philosophy, and quality psychological analysis of smart people? The boys grew up and played with the script very skillfully. Although there is a bit of unnecessary brevity (which makes the final catharsis harder to digest) and sometimes emotions are missing, it is still a great thing for the young hope of Hollywood at the time, and it is impossible not to love the "independent movie makers feeling". Nowadays, it's not as cool as it used to be, but in terms of content and message, it has practically not aged at all.
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It's been mentioned here many times, but the script is simply unprecedented for two people so young. The dialogues between Matt Damon and Robin Williams are amazing, they blew me away and I just believed them. The film itself may not have wowed me as much as I might have expected, but thanks to the wonderful soundtrack, the performances (especially Damon’s) and last but not least the idea itself, it definitely deserves at least a little place in my heart.
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A psychological/romance delicacy, which caught me off guard at the age of fourteen and I thought about it for a long time and identified with Will. Later, I abandoned the uncritical worship, but I will always admire the idea of two young guys who subscribed to a Hollywood career with their life's work. However, the best thing about this movie remains Robin Williams' tour de force.
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