FORREST GUMP
A film review by Alex Lopez-Ortiz
Copyright 1994 Alex Lopez-Ortiz
FORREST GUMP is a sleeper par excellence. In Canada, it opened without any announcements, and on its first day in town, all of ten people attended the first show. A week later, it is the number two film, and fourteen days later it has a larger lineup than BLOWN AWAY.
What makes this movie so successful? I would say it's originality together with a masterful directorial work by Zemeckis.
FORREST GUMP is original in its theme. It is not about crimes, or violence, or spies, or a silly comedy. It is about people, and in that respect it reminds me of Fried Green Tomatoes.
FORREST GUMP is original in its execution. The movie is narrated from a bench in a bus stop, and actual dialogue is sparse. In most cases such format would get tiresome pretty quickly. But somehow the audience never grows tired from 140 minutes of slow southern-accented speech go about unnoticed.
FORREST GUMP is original in its dialogue. This is a movie about a retarded person. I was expecting the movie, at one point or another, to turn into a speech about impaired people, but it remained subtler than that. The director let Forrest speak for himself, literally and figuratively speaking and the message comes across as all the more genuine.
FORREST GUMP is original in its plot. Rather, it does not have a typical plot. It has no introduction, problem or solution. Forrest flows seamlessly through life, and the movie just keeps that pace. No need for dramatic scenes. Even, some dramatic scenes are surprisingly, but intelligently left out: we never get to see Forrest's momma die or be buried.
FORREST GUMP may be a period piece. Remarkable only in as much as it differs from the current school of cinematic production. But even if it is only that, it is still a refreshing intermission in the avalanche of gun-them-down productions of late.
Rating: Highly recommended.
-- Alex Lopez-Ortiz alopez-o@neumann.UWaterloo.ca Department of Computer Science University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ontario Canada
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