Momma Grape, almost.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape

This film is all about Leonardo DiCaprio's performance as the retarded brother of Gilbert Grape. I don't know what he won for it, but he deserved a lot. Such a masterful performance for a young kid. He made me feel uncomfortable, his performance was that good. Johnny Depp was also pretty good, but in a more dummed down sense, but at least it shows that he can act, sort of. His performances vary so much. The thing that didn't quite work for me was Juliette Lewis, she wasn't quite right, although I'll admit she does match up to the stereotype of a traveller, they always appear dirty.

Good film, but I wanted to see more scandal from Grape and his older woman's affair. But it's worth watching for the brilliance of Leo. No wonder everybody had such high hopes for him when he was younger. Oh, and in answer to the titles question (or is it rhetorical?), I think that frustration was eating Gilbert Grape, frustration that he wasn't doing something more with his life twinned with frustration of responsibility for his mother and brother. If indeed he was frustrated, then Depp did a poor job of showing that on screen. Would have been nice to see a sequel, though, but I suppose it didn't earn enough.

B

I always confuse with this with the The World According to Garp even though they are so different.

Film is solid enough. Good performances, but the film itself is just ok B+

Sadly, he lost to Tommy Lee Jones for The Fugitive. Jones is good in The Fugitive (I love "I don't care!" as much as the next person), but DiCaprio should have won. Or Pete Postlethwaite for In the Name of the Father.

I suppose they thought that DiCaprio had the rest of his career to win more Oscars whereas Lee Jones was probably on his last chance.

I watched this for the first time the other day. My roommate who typically has a bad taste in film talked about how much he loved this film and Leo's performance as Arnie, so it hit play on Netflix and he started watching the film. Meanwhile I was more than content playing Skyrim on the otherside of the room. Soon enough, however, I found myself engrossed in this film. The character, the acting, the aesthetics of a small midwestern town, they all match this theme of being trapped along with a story about a forced committment to family. Mix that all in with a sense of moral ambiguity and you have a great film. Still, I would find it hard watching this film too many times more due to its slow pace, but this film simply doesn't work any other way.

A-

zing