“Finding Forrester” traces the unique relationship that develops between eccentric, reclusive novelist William Forrester (Sean Connery, right) and a gifted scholar-athlete, Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown)
If you took “Scent of a Woman,” “Good Will Hunting,” and “The Basketball Diaries” — minus the drugs — and mixed them all together with Sean Connery and a young kid from Brooklyn, you would come out with something similar to Columbia’s new film, “Finding Forrester.”
Jamal Wallace is a kid growing up in the Bronx who likes to play basketball with his “homies” and read and write in his spare time. William Forrester is a famous writer who disappeared after writing a single book people haven’t stopped talking about for 50 years. He also, for unknown reasons, likes to watch the neighborhood kids play basketball from his third-story window.
To Jamal and his friends, “The Window,” as they have dubbed their unknown voyeur, has become a mythic figure, which leads to a dare to sneak into his apartment. Jamal, always eager to be accepted by his peers, volunteers but ends up leaving his backpack of diaries in the apartment when Forrester frightens him off. Thus begins the relationship between our two protagonists, who eventually become friends and help each other with their lives.
Yada yada yada.
Let’s face it, the components that make up this new film aren’t anything new, but this story hasn’t gotten old yet.
There are two reasons for this: 1. Jamal is played astonishingly well by first-time actor Rob Brown. Brown, currently a junior in high school, didn’t have any acting experience before this film. His experience was mostly in playing football and basketball.
Director Gus Van Sant was wise to choose someone with the real street smarts to pull off Wallace’s character, rather than some actor who might be able to fake it. The problem with this decision is the risk that there is too much street kid and not enough to back up the genius aspect. There are times in the film when Brown’s credibility as a protégé is questionable. But Brown acts just as he should and keeps Wallace’s talent hidden unless he needs to prove it. He comes from the same place as Wallace and performs best in the scenes where he is playing basketball or hanging out with his movie friends. These are the times when the only reason he is acting is because the words coming out of his mouth were written by someone else.
2. Sean Connery as William Forrester. We never get tired of Sean Connery. He doesn’t act extraordinarily in the movie; he acts like Sean Connery. In fact, the William Forrester character is very thin. A lot of things are hinted at that just disappear rather than reach a conclusion. But does anybody really care?
The answer is “yes” for those who care about the plot, and “no” for those who care about the movie. When people go to see a Sean Connery movie, they listen intently to every word that he says, just to hear him proclaim things such as, “You’re the man now, Dog!” and then laugh because Sean Connery shouldn’t be saying “dog” in a sentence that isn’t referring to a pet.
Also making appearances in the film are Anna Paquin and F. Murray Abraham. Paquin plays Wallace’s only friend and vaguely concluded love interest at his new private school. Abraham plays Wallace’s egotistical writing professor. Unfortunately, these actors didn’t need to waste their time with this movie. The characters aren’t written with enough depth to take advantage of their skills as actors and would have been fine with people who wouldn’t have raised the budget much. Neither character is more than a two-dimensional device for the plot. This is a movie about Forrester and the kid who finds him, and it shows. Still, there are some amusing cameos by Busta Rhymes and an actor who should remain secret to maintain that “He’s-in-this-movie?” effect.
Outside the story, the film is very aesthetically pleasing, providing rich variations in color and beautiful shots at almost every cut. The director of photography, Harris Savides, has won awards for music videos he has done, including Madonna’s “Rain” and Fiona Apple’s “Criminal.” Certain shots are repeated to show the monotony of life in the slums and for the audience to identify with the small geographic area in which the film takes place.
The music to the film is largely pre-existing and stays with a jazzy theme that is oddly appropriate for the film. Tunes by Miles Davis carry the audience emotionally and always maintain a certain calm in the background. Also, the nature of jazz as an older style that never gets old serves to connect Jamal and Forrester in a way beyond dialogue.
Of course, it must be said that the dialogue for this movie was written by Portland native Mike Rich. Prior to writing this screenplay, Rich was a DJ for KGW and KINK-FM in Portland. He still lives there with his wife and family, but he now spends more time in front of a computer than a microphone.
His script makes an enjoyable movie. It’s not going to change your view on the world. It’s not going to blow you away. But it will entertain you more than the average feel-good movie.