The chain supermarket stocks all kinds of goods, rendering many of the local shops redundant. A new chain supermarket has opened, threatening the small Lamson's Grocery store where Gilbert works, as well as threatening all the other small-time businesses in Endora. In order to cope with his frenetic life, Gilbert has taken on a secret love affair with a housewife, Betty (Mary Steenburgen), whilst her insensitive, unsuspecting husband Ken (Kevin Tighe), is fully intent on selling Gilbert insurance for his family. The relationship between the brothers is one of care and protection. With Bonnie unable to care for them by herself, Gilbert has taken responsibility for repairing their shanty of farmhouse and looking after Arnie, who has a habit of climbing up the town water tower (like Spider-Man) if he is left unsupervised for too long, while his older sister Amy (Laura Harrington) and younger sister Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt) slave away in the kitchen. His mother, Bonnie (Darlene Cates) is morbidly obese after years of depression following her husband's suicide. In the small town of Endora, Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) is busy caring for his mentally challenged brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio) as they wait for the many tourists' trailers to pass through town during their yearly camp ritual at a nearby recreational area. As Becky teaches Gilbert to finally consider his own happiness for a change, she disrupts both his family obligations and his long-running affair with a lonely housewife (Mary Steenburgen). Into this complicated but essentially unchanging social universe steps Becky (Juliette Lewis), a thoughtful young woman who's been escorting her nomadic grandmother from state to state in a mobile-home caravan. Reilly), a handyman who hankers after a job at the new burger franchise. When he's not taking care of the difficult but tender Arnie, Gilbert spends his time fixing up the family's tattered farmhouse, working at a failing mom-and-pop grocery store and hanging with local misfits Bobby (Crispin Glover), an overly ambitious junior undertaker, and Tucker (John C. Momma (Darlene Cates) is a morbidly obese shut-in who hasn't left the house in seven years her children include Arnie (DiCaprio), who's about to turn 18 despite a host of negative medical forecasts, and terminally embarrassed Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt), who's emerging from an awkward adolescence. A prisoner of his dysfunctional family's broken dreams in tiny Endora, IA, Gilbert (Depp) serves as breadwinner and caretaker for his mother and siblings following his father's suicide and his older brother's defection. Overall, the whole story is an amazing look at life and dealing with stress, loneliness and self destruction.Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom's follow-up to the underrated Once Around earned far more attention than its predecessor thanks to the judicious casting of perennial thinking woman's heartthrob Johnny Depp and a certain up-and-coming thespian by the name of Leonardo DiCaprio. Gilbert is embarrassed by his mother and at one point calls her a beach whale. Language is sometimes angry and hurtful, no "F" words though. Yelling and arguing by family members, an obese woman is humiliated and talked about.) Sexual content includes an affair with an older married woman (a heavy making out scene on a kitchen table, she tells him to come by her place a couple times, she also tells him she wants to "play", oral sex is implied and briefly shown - a woman goes down on Gilbert - no nudity, innocent kissing by a couple). There is some violence (slapping an autistic boy, a scene of pulling his hair and dragging him on the ground. It deals with a lot of death including suicide. This film is very depressing, it's very sad and emotional. Meeting new girl Becky, and eventually falling in love, she helps to shape his life back to normal. Raising his sisters and autistic brother (Leonardo DiCaprio), he deals with so many responsibilities that soon drives him up the wall. Probably one of the very best movies that deals with dysfunctional families and it's very realistic! Gilbert (Johnny Depp) is troubled and confused, after the death of his father and his mother giving up on life and becoming terribly obese, it leaves Gilbert the man of the house. There is just something so lovable about the story. I loved it, even though it deals with a lot of adult situations throughout. My sister introduced me to this movie when we were young, around the first time it came out on video (nothing much disturbed me - I could handle almost any film).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |