Rating 15
Length 2h37
Release 12.03.1993
Director Martin Breast
About A prep school student, who is in need of money, agrees to be the caregiver of a man with visual impairment while his family is away. Unbeknownst to him, the colonel has his own agenda for the weekend.
Moon: no moon sighting
Trigger Warning: Suicide plans/ Gun Violence
Where to Watch: More 4
Trailer:
The Good
I remember Al Pacino being rated number one in a list of 100 actors and I really didn’t understand how, or why. I’ll admit, my dislike of the American gangster movie and their epically long run times, means until recently I probably hadn’t seen too much of Pacino.
Now, though?! I get it. He’s not the man with range, but he’s the man who goes all in to provide authenticity and emotional connection.
Frank’s story arc is compelling. His story provides arguments for and against assisted suicide; the struggle, the loneliness both conflict with the confidence and life that’s still fighting within Frank. How the cause of Frank’s blindness, his bitterness and position within his family and his plans for the future are drip fed to us, provides an ever shifting opinion and it makes for quite a beautiful, yet heartbreaking story.
The Bad
I’m not completely sold on Chris O’Donnell in the role, or the development of the character. What got him into the school? He said it was a bursary, but what for? What was his aim? There was mention of Harvard, but not of what he wanted to do there. We’ve got a Roary Gillmore here, but nothing about the character tells me this. Just a few changes to the character; hell, have him hold a book, taking homework with him to his first day with Frank. Something that showed me that he’s having to work harder than everyone else because he’s still having to earn his place.
Then for Chris O’Donnell, the performance is just a little too timid with not enough growth by the end of the film. It feels a little too one-note and wooden for a young man in crisis and thrown into highly tense situation with a clearly depressed man.
The Ugly
You’re trying to tell me that the Principle of that Prep school didn’t recognise those voices on the tannoy? Given that this is what the B-plot hangs one; it’s fucking stupid. I’d have had more respect if the film acknowledged that the Principle knew who it was, but that he needed someone to confirm it.
Or not have the trio so obvious, watching from the window. So much of it points to the boys and it’s frustrating to have the plot play so dumb.
Final Thoughts
Dead Poet’s Society meets About a Boy. It’s certainly a well made film that everyone should watch once in their life, but it’s more cathartic than entertaining.
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