What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Where the wild things are!
WHAT AN AMAZING FILM! GO SEE IT!! This is not a film for children. It is a film about a young boy, and is world, his perceptions, and how he uses his imagination to work through his conflicts. In the film we experience the boys (imaginary?) adventures, as he visits a far away place 'where -indeed- the wild things are'; the boy is quite a wild thing himself.
Marcia and I used to have the book (from which the film was written and designed). I always had a special love for that book. I read it to and with Dan, when he was little. The film is remarkable close to the book, in more ways than one. Beautifully made, a huge amount of work must have gone into this cinematic miracle!
Slowly moving, but always with an undercurrent of pending danger, which is very much the boy's perception of (his) life. The boy in the film deserves an OSCAR- he is completely natural and totally brilliant. I will buy the DVD; I want to own this film!
The creatures that the boy meets, and that make him their King, are all reflections of his family, including the father that no longer lives at home (we never see him), and possibly some neighbors and/ or close friends. While the sound of their voices is so familiar, their bodies, their ideas and words, and their actions are (at times) wonderfully off the wall, out of the box, if not crazy.
My favorite line in the movie (when the boy is leaving, the wild things to go back home): "You're the first king we haven't eaten!"
The imagery of the film is FANTASTIC, the music is BRILLIANT, the boy is MESMERIZING (the king of the world indeed, which is a tittle given to him by his father). The WILD THINGS are AMAZING to watch in their expressions and body language. This is altogether a TOP FILM!! Not to be missed!
Wild at Heart
West Side Story (1961, Jerome Robbins & Robert Wise directors)
West Side Story (2021, Steven Spielberg director)
Young Goethe in Love
Carefully crafted, excellently acted (by an all German cast), beautifully shot, at a slow pace but with a growing momentum and a fabulous climax and aftermath - altogether a most enjoyable film!