Finding Forrester (2000)reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
In "Finding Forrester," after being sent to an exclusive prep school in Manhattan, Jamal Wallace, played by Rob Brown (Coach Carter), befriends a reclusive writer and neighborhood urban legend named William Forrester, played by Sean Connery (Entrapment). The friendship eventually forces Forrester to overcome his reclusiveness and for Jamal to overcome the racial prejudices against him and pursue his true dream of becoming a writer. This picture was a little flat. It wasn't very exciting, but it did engage the viewer well enough. Connery, Brown and F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus)--as Jamal's discriminative and bitter English instructor--were awesome. Each of them had an extremely well rounded character to work from a script penned by Mike Rich (The Rookie, Radio). This is for sure one of Gus Van Sant's best pictures, but with releases like "Elephant" and "Last Days," his crap films are starting to outweigh his quality pictures. I think writers will particularly enjoy this picture. It says a lot about approaching a new piece and having a passion for putting words to the page. I just wish this picture was a little more exciting is all. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
What is it about director Gus Van Sant. He keeps proving he can make a quality film but still insists on producing whole-hearted monkey spore like "Elephant." On this occasion, he connect.
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