Filmed on location-what a concept. Gus Van Sant created a movie about the Bronx and then actually went there to find actors, sets and the movie’s pizazz. Finding Forrester takes this often misused phrase and validates it in an uplifting story about the unique bond between a teacher and a student.
While the story itself is not spectacular, who could argue that inspiring greatness and the extraordinary isn’t? In an age where businessmen make the big bucks and teachers struggle to keep their funding, why not make a film that features the value and impact of finding one true mentor.
The story brings together an African-American star scholar-athlete, Jamal (Rob Brown) and Pulitzer Prize-winning author William Forrester (Sean Connery) in the Bronx, an unlikely residence for a literary genius.
Jamal does his best to blend in with the typical high school crowd. His plan seems to be to graduate high school with a C+ average and spend his time playing basketball with his group of friends.
The only problem is that Jamal has talent-a talent that he hides in a stack of journals he ports around in a backpack. However, thanks to a required standardized test Jamal’s brilliance is revealed to his family, his teachers and an elite Manhattan prep school.
Jamal begins his friendship with Forrester as he toys with the idea of leaving behind his mediocre inner-city school for an opportunity to play basketball and study for free. Forrester stares from the window as Jamal and his buddies play ball. By breaking and entering, Jamal sneaks into Forrester’s apartment on a dare but after Forrester startles him, flees without his backpack and journals.
His backpack returns with his writings and a mentor. The two quickly become writing partners and Forrester’s apartment transforms into an eclectic writing workshop surrounded by leather-bound classics, typewriters and powerful phrases.
Meanwhile, Jamal strives to show his new white, upper-class peers and teachers just what he’s made of on the court and in the classroom. His English teacher, Amadeus’ F. Murrary Abraham, fights him every step of the way because he is unable to believe that an African-american from the Bronx could simply be that good.
Surprisingly, Gus Van Sant experienced similar disbelief when he set out to cast Jamal. Finding actors to fill the other roles was not a difficult task, but finding the perfect Jamal required leaving the boundaries of Hollywood.
Van Sant searched on location in the Bronx for his Jamal and even encouraged guys he encountered on the street to audition.
He needed a guy who could hold his own on screen with Sean Connery, play ball and convince an audience that his character could write.
The moment sixteen-year-old Rob Brown began his read-through, Van Sant and his crew knew they had found their Jamal. Brown, who has no previous acting experience, shares a similar background with his character in the film.
He was born in Harlem, raised in Brooklyn and attends a prep school.
Van Sant also cleverly included all the Jamal runner-ups by casting them as Jamal’s basketball buddies.
While Sean Connery on a bicycle and a no-name actor from Brooklyn aren’t going to leave a lasting effect on the cinematic world, do yourself a favor and don’t toss this movie into the I’ll-rent-it-sometime stack. It’s OK sometimes to watch a movie that reaffirms what’s good in the world. B
