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Becky: I love the sky. It's so limitless.
Gilbert: It is big. It's very big.
Becky: Big doesn't even sum it up, right? That word big is so small.
Gilbert has care for his brother Arnie and his obese mother, which gets in the way when love walks into his life.
Johnny Depp: Gilbert Grape
Leonardo DiCaprio first caught our attention as mentally retarded Arnie Grape, cared for by his brother Gilbert in Endora, Iowa. The movie shows how Gilbert is really in charge of the family, as their mother Bonnie (Darlene Cates) is dangerously overweight, and pretty much everything in their destitute world looks pretty grim. Among other things, there's a mega-store destroying the local place. A bleak movie, but with hope.
Lasse Hallstrom brings to What's Eating Gilbert Grape the same great direction that he brought to My Life as a Dog, The Cider House Rules and Chocolat. It's a look at the whole failed state of things in the world. A truly great movie. Also starring Juliette Lewis and John C. Reilly.
''I'm having a birthday party, but you're not invited, but you can come if you want.''
This is Gilbert Grape's story, and his recollection of what was to be just another ordinary and uneventful moment in the life of him, his family and his, almost sleepy, town. Centred around the Grape family, sisters Ellen and Amy and their two brothers Arnie and Gilbert, who, along with their widowed mother, morbidly obese Bonnie Grape are striving to survive and coexist with the absence of a father figure, low waged work and seventeen-year-old Arnie's severe mental condition.
It is in this awkward and extremely one sided affair that the unfortunate sibling Gilbert has to constantly watch over his younger brother Arnie, played to such depth and conviction by a very young Leonardo DiCaprio, while still holding down a job for Lamson's Groceries and looking after, also, their housebound mother. Gilbert's life, his future, his dreams is thwarted, he know this, but it is in this Guardian Angel that his love and bond for Arnie, and his family, cannot, and will not, be let go.
That is until the free spirited Becky (Juliette Lewis) arrives in town, and stranded with her grandmother for the week while waiting for parts for their vehicle. This realization, this new fresh face unties new feelings, new thoughts and new hope for the put upon Gilbert, something new is eating Gilbert Grape.
Iowa born, Peter Hedges (b. 1962) novel has been turned into a fine work of emotional art, with the reassuring and delicate touch from Swedish director Lasse Hallström (b. 1942). While the dialogue is somewhat nondescript, but at the same time is never wasted on distractive trivialities, it is the inner core of the narrative that projects What's Eating Gilbert Grape as a tender and caring movie of self-sacrifice, devoted love and long full companionship.
''You don't hurt Arnie, you just don't.''
The cast here are all relatively young, a younger than nineteen looking DiCaprio and Lewis, with its much more than capable co-stars. This gifted young cast are individually exceptional and hold their qualities well, to the point that at times we are mistaken for thinking we are seeing more home video than movie. Rita Darlene Guthrie's (1947) first acting role is astounding, her natural instinctive character, as mother Grape, protrudes more than we expect, as the backbone of this family, she holds together a family of highly individual children under one union, and their respect and love. We are also seeing their new and young lives unfold before us, and the inevitable hand of fate that both bad timing and misplaced destiny has dealt them.
This movie ties us in with compassion and enlightenment through it main character Arnie, here we are given an insight into the daily responsibilities of this family toward his special needs. DiCaprio excels himself as the much loved youngster whose unintentional care-free and more than often care-less mind can at times bring domestic harmonies to boiling point and, sadly, beyond breaking point, even for the closest of families. Often surprising, often enduring but always touching.
This is perpetuated by the music of soft acoustic guitar that plays on the musical heartstrings for this gentle love story and with the work of the late Sven Nykvist (1922-2006) as its Swedish cinematographer, illuminating both the beauty of the surroundings and the bleak realities. We are also shown, subconsciously, that there is nothing wrong in being poor and that being from the side where the grass is not so green is not too bad after all, with just the right amount of stable influences that can support anyone through the hardships of life, most thing's can happen. This has been proved by the photograph of the third Grape brother seen on the fridge door, and the families pride in him gaining a University Degree, and ultimately, starting a new life outside of Endora.
The subplot, though minor, is still a harsh reminder that even the best of people can become too isolated, too familiar in their lives. Mary Steenburgen's middle-aged Betty Carver has a nice family, a nice house and a nice middle-aged husband, but is still not happy. Her affair with Gilbert is just a fleeting glimpse into the perspective of human companionship gone sour between old love.
Leonardo DiCaprio lost out to Tommy Lee Jones for his part as Marshal Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive(1993) at the 1994 Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Losing out to such an uninspiring role did not harm his winning the 1994 Chicago Film Critics Association Awards for Most Promising Actor as well as National Board of Review 1993 Award for Best Supporting Actor. With just three years after Edward Scissorhands(1990) and a year before Ed Wood(1994) this little movie proves that Mr. Depp can still take chances and win, and with Gilbert Grape, he has succeeded in proving versatility, depth and charm.
Momma: You're my knight in shimmering armor. Did you know that?
Gilbert: I think you mean shining.
Momma: No shimmering. You shimmer, and you glow.
8/10
