BEFORE: I don't know much about this film, but I recall that Sean Connery plays an author.
THE PLOT: An African-american teen writing prodigy finds a mentor in a reclusive author.
AFTER: Connery (last seen in "The Avengers") plays a Pulitzer-winning author who has an irrational fear of leaving his Bronx apartment (but I say if he lives in the Bronx, maybe the fear is rational...). He probably doesn't want to be recognized - but it's probably been so long since he's been in public, it's doubtful that anyone would recognize him. There's an obvious reference to J.D. Salinger, or perhaps Thomas Pynchon.
Jamal Wallace, a black teen, who happens to be a secret genius, is dared by friends to break into his apartment - which seems like a contrived way to get the two main characters to meet. Jamal's test scores are off the chart, but it's his basketball skills that get him a scholarship to a prep school. And his ensuing friendship with William Forrester, the famous author, nurtures and vastly improves his writing skills.
There are similarities to "Good Will Hunting", from the same director, Gus Van Sant, but with creative writing in place of math, and basketball in place of...well, janitorial skills, I guess. As with Will Hunting, small-minded people assume that someone from a lower-class neighborhood can't possible be strong academically.
Jamal butts heads with a professor who has a history with Connery's character, one that derailed his own writing career. Small world, I guess - or else it's another contrived coincidence. The professor is played by F. Murray Abraham (last seen in "Mobsters") - playing a jealous failed genius is right in his wheelhouse, he even won an Oscar for it once.
Unfortunately there's too much talky-talky and not enough basketball. Of course every high-school sports film features a shot at the "state championship", but we only see about 5 minutes of game-play in this film. I realize that Van Sant doesn't usually have a focus on sports, but if you're trying to point out that this kid is talented in several arenas, why show so little of a (presumably) very exciting climactic game?
NITPICK POINT: As in "Misery", writers here are shown using manual typewriters - I guess there's something very cinematic about them, something classy and old-school. They look (and sound) great on camera, but are they practical? Wouldn't you expect a student, even an inner-city one, in a film made in 2000 to be more familiar with using a word processor than an old typewriter? Who writes essays on a typewriter these days, and goes through draft after draft?
I'm reminded of an article I read a few weeks ago about Wally Wood, who was a famous comic-book artist in the 1950's and 60's. He reportedly worked tirelessly, bouncing between Marvel and DC comics and MAD magazine as well, and had a creative output second to none. When his health failed and work dried up in the 1970's, he committed suicide - and his recent biography has led several of today's comic-book artists to make sure that they develop interests outside of their work - a hobby, a bowling league, or just meeting friends for drinks once a week - because any creative field also has the ability to take over one's life. It's great advice that I firmly believe in - I sure felt renewed after taking just a 4-day trip upstate.
Also starring Rob Brown, Anna Paquin, Busta Rhymes, and Michael Nouri. Plus a cameo from Matt Damon (last seen in "The Brothers Grimm"), which reinforces the connections to "Good Will Hunting".
RATING: 5 out of 10 foul shots
Writers can get pressy persnickety about their tools and their processes. A new-ish documentary about Harlan Ellison show him knocking away at the same kind of old typewriter he's used for decades. At one point, he opens a closet and shows it stacked to the ceiling with backups of the exact same make and model.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing is a lesson about fiction writing that I learned late: the first draft is meaningless. You write something absolutely terrible and then revise, revise, revise. So on that basis, a writing tool that makes it hard to fix things as you go is actually an asset. It prevents you from fine-tuning something before you've finished that first draft.
I didn't really get going with fiction until (in desperation) I started writing first drafts in longhand. On a word processor, I'd be spending so much time going back and editing the first page that I'd never even get to the middle of the story.