Good Will Hunting

100584 / 12 / US / 1997 / Van Sant, Gus / / drama
Good Will Hunting / Will Hunting. © Miramax Film Corp. P: Lawrence Bender. D: Gus Van Sant. SC: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon. DP: Jean Yves Escoffier. CAST: Matt Damon, Robin Williams, Ben Affleck, Minnie Driver, Stellan Skarsgård. 126’. 1,85. Finnish / Swedish subtitles by Timo Porri / Janne Staffans. DIST: Scanbox Finland. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Friday 30 January 1998. *** Probably one of the top ten films of the year, this is Gus Van Sant’s best achievement so far. It takes place between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and South Boston: the elite and the underdog. Damon plays the boy wonder from the slums. He has become a delinquent, a multiple offender, on a serious downward spiral. He is noticed by the master mathematicist Skarsgård who finally finds for him a psychiatrist whom the boy cannot drive crazy - Robin Williams. There is true anger and true wisdom in the story. Gus Van Sant keeps developing his visual style, too, here together with his excellent DP Escoffier.

Flubber

100577 / 8 / 5 / US / 1997 / Mayfield, Les / / comedy
Flubber / Maailman mahtavin mönjä. © Disney Enterprises. P: John Hughes, Ricardo Mestres. D: Les Mayfield. Based on the screenplay by Bill Walsh for The Absent Minded Professor / Hajamielinen professori (Walt Disney Company 1961). M: Danny Elfman. CAST: Robin Williams, Marcia Gay Harden. 93’. MPAA 35540. Rated PG-13. Finnish subtitles by Hannele Vahtera. DIST: Finnkino. Viewed in Helsinki, VET, Monday 26 January 1998. ** I have never seen the original and did not warm up to this remake. Loud noise and special effects cannot fill the void when style and warmth are missing.