Have you seen the movie What's Eating Gilbert Grape? It's my favorite movie of all time.
It came out more than 30 years ago, but it's still shimmering — shimmering is the word Gilbert's mother uses to describe him, played by a young Johnny Depp. Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis also star in this movie. It may sound like an all-star cast now, but back then Leo wasn't famous and Johnny wasn't a huge star yet.
Leo plays Gilbert's brother Arnie, who has a mental disability. It was my first time seeing his acting, and I just couldn't believe such a young actor could pull off such a difficult role. Afterwards, he said that he enjoyed the role very much. He said the script didn't go into detail, and a large part of his acting was improvised.
And Johnny's touching and delicate acting is beyond words. The director, Lasse Hallström, said that Johnny had a lot in common with Gilbert. Every time I watch the movie, I discover something new in his acting.
The storyline is heavy, but at the same time, somewhat funny and refreshing. I don't watch a lot of movies, but I can watch my favorite movies repeatedly without getting bored. I'm planning to watch this movie over and over until I can imitate all the lines and use its words and phrases myself.
You can watch the full movie here:
I've never watched it because I can't stand JD, but maybe I'll give it a shot!
I'm not sure if you'll like it since you can't stand JD 😅, but Leo's acting is definitely worth watching. He actually spent time at a home with intellectually disabled kids to prepare and said it was really fun. I think that sensitivity of his brightens up this movie.
Never heard of this one. I also don't watch a lot of movies so I miss out on a lot of cultural references.
@schmamie Yeah, my cultural references are quite limited, but we’re limited anyway, so I really appreciate my little treasures.
I knew nothing about this movie before watching it, and it was actually pretty funny at times. I really liked it, but I felt a little dissatisfied with the ending... but it was nicely symbolic I guess. Another movie with a similar vibe is called My Own Private Idaho. It has River Phoenix and young Keanu Reeves in it (and Flea from RHCP! Flea and River were good friends. If you're interested here's a cool workshop thing where River interviews Flea https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuOsH5N43PM ). This movie has a similar atmosphere of being lost and finding something, human connections. Although not sure if I'd recommend it for the English, I remember being a little confused at times haha, I think it's mainly a sound thing because you have to really listen to what they're saying. It's a bit more artsy than What's eating Gilbert Grape too (sorry I wrote a fair bit, I love 90's movies)
@via-chan I totally get what you said about the ending. I don't think it was necessary, but I don't really mind it either. For me, with this movie, the process feels more important than the result. By the way, I've heard that the original novel has a different ending.
Lasse Hallström is Swedish, and English isn't his first language, that might be why the movie has such a simple vibe. It's not very artsy, and the soundtrack is kind of plain, but I find that charming.
And you mentioned My Own Private Idaho! It's one of my favorites too. River's birthday is really close to mine — just a few months apart. He's kind of a hero for my generation. Thanks for sharing the video. It was really interesting! I was never a big RHCP fan, but Flea's recent solo work really clicked with me, so I've just started getting into him.