[As a brief side note, as I was checking the movie column for the past couple of years I noticed that in August of 2022 I had not uploaded one of my reviews (and yet I am pretty sure I had prepared it). Also, I am quite sure that this precise movie was meant for that month, so I will just back-date this article and leave it at that. It’s more for my pedantic OCD need of a ‘completionist’ than anything else.]
Finding Forrester is a 2000 drama film starring Sean Connery and Rob Brown.
Jamal Wallace (Brown), a sixteen-year-old student who was raised in the Bronx, receives a scholarship at a prestigious school because of his intelligence and athletic capabilities. Out of a dare he will encounter William Forrester (Connery), a renowned author who had written ‘the one book’ before disappearing from the public scene. The movie features their encounter and as such, the relationship between a mentor and an aspiring writer.
Finding Forrester proposes many themes that would be worth analyzing: from stereotypes to acceptance, from change to abandonment, from guilt to diversity, from scars to life choices. It is, in my opinion, a complete movie; I will however concentrate only on one aspect, the one that concerns identity, and more specifically the identity of the writer.
The point of encounter between the two protagonists is purely coincidental and the beginning of their relationship is a bit bumpy; Forrester only takes an interest in the young student because he ends up reading some his notebooks. For sure, the ploy of the master realizing the potential of the pupil is dated, but it is still a very functional one. This however does not stop the grouchy old writer to say “How about 5000 words on why you’ll stay the fuck out of my home” when Jamal asks him for advice the first time they interact.
William Forrester is depicted as this incredible author who never published more than his first book by his own volition. Sometimes he is sarcastic, other times he is rough with Jamal and usually his snide remarks are always well aimed, but his choice of living life as a recluse because of his past justifies this persona. Obviously, this is just a personal interpretation, but I feel as if Sean Connery gives the character this Ernest Hemingway kind of vibe. Throughout the movie, the viewer cannot shake off this looming sensation of Forrester’s importance. Take the conversation they have on participating in writing competitions as an example:
J:-They got some contest at school, this writing thing. You ever entered one of those?
F:-Writing contest? Once, long time ago.
J:-Did you win?
F:-Well of course I won.
J:-Like money or something?
F:-The Pulitzer.
Their discussions on literature and the process of writing are astutely played out and make up for some of the best scenes in the movie. Although the advice Forrester gives is not ground-breaking or mind-blowing and countless authors have said just about the same effective things before, it is the delivery in the right moments of the movie that make it impactful. These are some of the finer points that I personally enjoyed:
You write your first draft with your heart and you re-write with your head.
The first key of writing is to write, not to think.
A lot of writers know the rules about writing, but they don’t know how to write.
You may say that those statements are corny or even a bit obtuse, and I might even agree, but here’s my two-cents worth: a writer has a method, and anything he tells himself to make that method work is worthwhile.
I would give this a solid 8 out of 10 soup questions.