Welcome to Filling the Blanks, a new segment where I fill in huge gaps in my filmic knowledge. The criteria for a 'Filling the Blanks' film is that it has to be considered a classic or an outstanding example of cinema at its peak, or it has been significant in some way, either culturally or in pushing forward the art of filmmaking with unorthodox or revolutionary techniques. It should also be at least one year old. Without further ado...
BEFORE:
I honestly haven't had many run-ins with Good Will Hunting in my daily life. I know why it's called that; the main character is named Will Hunting. And I know that Matt Damon and Ben Affleck developed the script while Affleck was crashing on Damon's couch. I know that they won Best Original Screenplay and Robin Williams won Best Supporting Actor. I know the whole story about their clashes with Harvey Weinstein and all that. But as far as the actual film goes, not so much.
AFTER:
Good Will Hunting could have easily come off as cheesy. It has very warm colour-grading, all of the characters have well-defined arcs and it hinges on learning important life lessons. I think what saves it from that is the edge that Affleck and Damon gave their screenplay. Though Williams' Sean is often poetic, he is also to-the-point and sometimes volatile. This gives the film a bit more realism and I think elevates it.
My main thought coming out of this was, 'why the hell didn't Damon and Affleck write together again?' Not only do they only have a few more writing credits between them, they never worked together in that aspect again, despite the fact that Hunting's screenplay is pretty great and easily deserving of the Best Original Screenplay Oscar. It's actually astonishing how good it is for a debut. It's almost the star of the show, with its naturalistic dialogue and stichomythia. It explores big ideas without feeling pretentious and it's surprisingly funny at points.
But that honour goes to Williams. His performance is not only the best of his that I've seen, it's one of the best I've ever seen, full stop. He channels his strength, how expressive his face is, to communicate a wide range of complex emotions. He's very wistful and poetic, and easily my favourite scene was his love monologue:
His character is one of the most well-rounded in the film, second only to the titular character
Damon is also surprisingly really good. I thought he'd seem a lot weaker next to Williams but he more than holds his own. I also enjoyed Affleck's performance, as well as Stellan Skarsgard's. His character is perhaps a window into the two screenwriters' own frustrations at Weinstein constantly delaying work on the film.
I have some nitpicks, but they're so minor that they don't feel worth mentioning. If there was one major problem that I had with it, some of the editing felt a bit off. The editor was definitely going for something stylistically, I'm just not sure what it is. I don't really strike this against the film because if I was to read up on it a little more I'd probably be okay with it. Just take this criticism as a kind of 'watch this space.'
Overall, this was a masterfully written and acted film and will definitely become one of my favourites.
Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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