What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

A beautiful film that shows the strength of the bonds of family.

Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) has a pretty rough life. Living in a small town in the middle of nowhere, Iowa, most of his day is taken up with working in the local grocery store, as well as looking after his younger, profoundly disabled, brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio).

Sure, he has help from sisters Amy (Laura Harrington) and Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt), and the love and support of their mother Bonnie (Darlene Cates). But given that his mother hasn’t left the house since their father died many years earlier, and has become more and more overweight to the point that she doesn’t even leave the couch, she isn’t as much help as he would like.

Add to this existence a sordid affair with married woman Betty Carver (Mary Steenburgen) and being a friend to handyman Tucker (John C. Reilly), and it seems that his life couldn’t get any more difficult.

And Arnie is incredibly difficult to care for. His eighteenth birthday is fast approaching, and yet he is unable to do virtually anything for himself.

It isn’t until new girl Becky (Juliette Lewis) and her grandmother come to town - after their camper breaks down just outside the city limits - that Gilbert’s life starts to look like it may have some good in it after all.

The screenplay - written by Peter Hedges and based on his own novel - is very good. The characters are all clearly defined and all have a very rich history with one another and with the town. The pacing of the film is just right, and nothing feels as though it doesn’t absolutely need to be there.

Sven Nykvist’s cinematography is incredible, with beautiful sweeping shots of the scenery throughout, and unique shots and camera angles abound. The whole film - despite some of these wide shots of the Iowa landscape - feels incredibly intimate, and the viewer feels very much a part of the action, with plenty of close shots and moving camera.

Björn Isfält’s music is used very sparingly, and to great effect. There is a theme - or leitmotif - that is used several times throughout the film, any time that Gilbert and Arnie are sharing a particularly tender moment. The theme varies in its instrumentation each time, but it is nevertheless the same, and serves to ground the entire story around these two brothers, whose love for one another is one of the strongest central themes of the film.

The performances of the entire cast are absolutely incredible, in particular Depp and DiCaprio. DiCaprio was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and with very good reason. Sadly, he missed out on the award, as it was given instead to Tommy Lee Jones for The Fugitive, which I believe was a mistake; this performance was far superior. He did, however, win a Golden Globe for his portrayal, which is so incredibly realistic, but also is pulled off without the slightest hint of caricature or mockery.

Another standout performance is that of Darlene Cates, playing the mother to this family. Her love for all her children, but particularly Arnie, is shown so strongly at various moments (I won’t go into detail, I’ll let you discover those for yourself if you haven’t already seen this film) that it brings tears to your eyes.

In fact, I must confess I spent most of the film in tears; the performances of the entire cast are just so realistic and heartfelt, and the script is just so damn good.

Lasse Hallström - who I must admit I only knew previously from the film Chocolat, though he has directed many other great movies - has made an amazing film here, a film that should have received many more awards and accolades than it did. I for one know I will be watching this many more times, and I would advise you to do the same.

9 out of 10.

Pretty Baby (1977)

We find ourselves whisked back in time to Storyville, New Orleans in 1917, for this film that was controversial even when it was first released, and is no less so even now over forty years later.

The entire film is set in a brothel run by Nell (Frances Faye). The brothel is full of girls, mostly aged in their twenties and thirties, who spend their days sleeping, and their nights entertaining men of all ages, mostly military men in town for only a short time.

Given the time period, and considering there were not a lot of options available for birth control, it is reasonably commonplace for a lot of the girls to fall pregnant. Hence, there is a whole bedroom of the enormous house set aside for all the children.

One of these children, who is growing up faster than her mother would care to think about, is Violet (Brooke Shields). Approaching puberty as the film begins, she has lived in this environment her entire life, with her mother Hattie (Susan Sarandon), and brand new baby brother Will (born in the film’s opening scene).

Naturally, being surrounded by the things she has been surrounded by her whole life, Violet has not had much opportunity for a proper childhood, and this is the great tragedy of this film.

When a young photographer named Bellocq (Keith Carradine) arrives, asking to photograph some of the girls to help build his portfolio of work, Violet takes to him very strongly, desperate for someone, anyone, to notice her for once.

I won’t say anything more about the plot, other than to say that it doesn’t end well for anyone, really. The film is a tragedy throughout, and to describe it at length here would not do it justice.

Cinematographer Sven Nykvist has shot this film beautifully. Most of the scenes take place in very low light, and not just because we are in only the early days of electricity. The darkness of the scenes serves perfectly to highlight the darkness of the subject matter. The scenes which are lighter, therefore, are also lighter in tone and content; it is handled so delicately and deftly, however, it isn’t always easy to notice, it tends to be something you observe more subconsciously (unless, of course, you’re looking for it, as I was!).

The script (by Polly Platt) is likewise dark in parts (and only occasionally light in others). The entire film from beginning to end is observed through Violet’s eyes, which I think only heightens the tragic nature of her upbringing. There are some things she knows (that she shouldn’t), but also a lot she doesn’t know (that she should), and we as the audience are much more aware of these things than she is.

The production design by Trevor Williams and costume design by Mina Mittelman are both superb, displaying for us seamlessly a glimpse at life at the turn of the twentieth century. Not for a moment do we doubt or misunderstand where (and when) we are. The sets are absolutely gorgeous, as are all the costumes, and these two elements together really bring the characters and locations to life.

The cast are amazing also, particularly young Shields, who at the time of shooting, was only eleven years old. Of course, she has gone on to bigger and better things as she has continued to work in both film and television, but even at this early stage of her career, she was showing incredible talent and promise. In fact, if you close your eyes, it is easy to forget that she is so young, given her apparently innate ability to hold a scene.

Carradine also shines as Bellocq, who was apparently a real photographer at the time, who built a career photographing young women, particularly prostitutes. As far as I am aware, the rest of the film is fictitious, but it has at least this small basis in reality. His ability to change his demeanour at the drop of a hat is often terrifying, and certainly unsettling.

Director Louis Malle has made a beautifully-shot and wonderfully acted film here, even though the plot and characters are sometimes difficult to watch. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this film on the basis of its plot, but in terms of its look and feel it is amazing.

7 out of 10.