Sean Connery teams with newcomer Rob Brown to highlight a touching tale with a satisfactory payoff. [PG-13]
By: Kam Williams
What if an isolated Pulitzer Prize-winning author, living alone in the South Bronx, befriended a high school basketball standout who was also an aspiring writer? This is the unique premise of Finding Forrester, a delightful treat starring Oscar-winner Sean Connery (for The Untouchables) and newcomer Rob Brown.
In the title role as the agoraphobic William Forrester, Connery tempers his typically brash bravado with an uncharacteristic vulnerability that somehow makes his plight plausible. As Jamal Wallace, 16-year-old Brown gives a praiseworthy debut performance as a much sought-after shooting guard whose jump shot might be his ticket out of the ghetto. The eccentric Forrester never ventures out of his fourth floor fortress of solitude, overlooking a blacktop basketball court where homeys shoot hoops every day.
Through the grapevine, a frightening rumor about the silver-haired apparition they call "The Window" has spread across the neighborhood. Everyone keeps a safe distance from Forrester, the lone white inhabitant of their black world.
But curiosity gets the better of Jamal, who bravely ventures up the old-timer’s fire escape and into his apartment. Needless to say, the pair’s first impression of each other borders on disastrous. Each of them is able to look past prejudice and forge a mutually-beneficial friendship. Forrester mentors the prep-school bound Jamal, who, in turn, induces the recluse to emerge from his self-imposed exile.
The story takes off from there, as each navigates a new world with the aid of an unlikely ally. The absorbing script elevates an overlooked segment of society, humanizing the unfortunate above their humble environs. Cinematography of sharp contrasts coupled with a sparse soundtrack underscore a touching tale with a satisfactory payoff.
The motley supporting-cast ranges from the sublime to the Buttafuoco. It includes other Oscar-winners, F. Murray Abraham (for Amadeus) and Anna Paquin (for The Piano). Then, there are veterans, such as Michael Nouri (Flashdance) and April Grace (Headless Body in Topless Bar). Yet, the scatter-haired rapper Busta Rhymes (Shaft) and tabloid-oddity Joey Buttafuoco hold their own opposite these seasoned professionals.
Kudos, of course, to Connery’s co-star, Brown, a kid from Harlem with no prior professional acting experience. Considerable credit must go to Oscar-nominated director Gus Van Sant (for Good Will Hunting) for holding this diverse production together. Van Sant’s perfectionist’s touch led to a finished product deserving of serious consideration come Oscar time. Exhilarating, inspirational, uplifting. It’s all that.
Rated PG-13 for profanity, knife play and adult situations.