You know what's a good movie? (Part 6)

Part 1: Forrest Gump

Connection: Tom Hanks

Part 2: Toy Story

Connection: Pixar

Part 3: The Incredibles

Connection: Superhero Films

Part 4: Batman (1989)

Connection: Jack Nicholson

Part 5: The Departed

Connection: Matt Damon

Part 6: Good Will Hunting

When talking about Hollywood pairs, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are as obvious a pair as it gets.  The two childhood friends wrote a script, waiting year after year for the right moment, and that moment came in 1997.  Capped with an Academy Award for "Best ORIGINAL Screenplay".  The two men were 27 years old, and thrust into the Hollywood spotlight.

Good Will Hunting focuses on Matt Damon's character, Will.  Will is an underachiever, working as a janitor at a college.  At the college, Professor Lambeau wants to challenge his students.  He writes down partially completed math problems on a chalk board outside the classroom, in hopes one of his students will be able to solve them.  The professor is played by Stellan Skarsgard, terrifically played by Skarsgard!  We quickly find out, Will is a mathematical genius solving the problems on the board during his night shift at the college.  After a series of events, Will must work with Professor Lambeau AND see a therapist to stay out of jail.

Will does whatever it takes to avoid talking about his problems.  So one therapist after the other gives up on him, and refuses to take him as their patient.  Until Professor Lambeau calls upon Robin William's character, Sean, the two were college roommates.  This is where the meat of the story begins.

Williams plays a widower that is content with the way his life has played out.  He's a soft spoken man, very contrary to the Professor.  He sees Will as a tormented soul, not just a math prodigy.  It takes a long time for Sean to get Will to talk, but when they finally begin to do so, they see they're a lot more alike than either had expected.  Through their sessions, we discover that Will was abused as a child, physically and emotionally.  His only escape was being with his friends.

His friends consist of Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck and Cole Hauser.  We see the lifelong friendship the foursome have created.  The comedy in the movie comes while the four are just simply sitting around telling stories.  There is a line during these scenes that is pure comedy "How you like them Apples?" is truly epic! The scenes between the friends seem so organic, and how couldn't they be?  We know three of the four grew up together.  That organic feel was absolutely necessary in developing the characters.

Will's love interest is played by Minnie Driver, who does a magnificent job, and was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination for "Best Supporting Actress", she plays Skylar.  The relationship between Will and Skylar grows throughout the movie, but Will is still stand offish.  He wont let her in.  Skylar is a hard working student with aspirations that Will just can't relate to.  In a critical scene in the movie, Skylar asks Will to follow her to Stanford for her next school.  The thought of another person abandoning him is too much for Will to handle, and he explodes in a fit or rage.  The scene is very well done and crucial to understanding why Will is as tormented as he is.

As the movie proceeds, Will and Sean's therapy sessions dive deeper and deeper into Will's psyche.  What this young man, Will, has been through, must have been unbelievably difficult.  Approaching the end of the movie, Will inches towards a breakthrough in therapy.  When the breakthrough occurs, it's amazing.  I personally think this specific scene is what garnered Robin Williams an Academy Award win for "Best Supporting Actor" and a nomination for Matt Damon for "Best Actor". 

The movie was directed by Gus Van Sant who had a very difficult task.  There were so many layers to every character; all of which needed ample screen time to develop.  We've seen many movies, this year alone, that had too many characters for their own good (i.e. Valentine's Day, Iron Man 2).  But Van Sant is like the conductor of a symphony, and what a symphony it is.  The way he peels away layer after layer off all the major characters is beautiful.  The tone, pacing, editing and music to the movie are perfect.  Speaking of which, the movie was nominated for "Best Film Editing", "Best Music, Original Dramatic Score", "Best Music, Original Song", "Best Director" for Van Sant and last, but not least, "Best Picture" of the year.

What I love more than the art that was created, was the way the art was created.  The movie is brilliant in my eyes.  But the way Matt Damon and Ben Affleck followed their dreams and became Oscar winning writers and two of Hollywood's A-List actors, is a movie waiting to happen.  They wrote the script, and were patient for the timing to be right; I'd say their timing was as good as it was going to get.  Nine Oscar nominations and two wins is impressive by anyone's standards.  Hopefully the duo reunite to bring us more original stories like the one in Good Will Hunting.