Blog #8 Movie Critique - Yuhang Yi

Finding Forrester is a film about Jamal Wallace, an African-American high school teenager with highly talented in writing and basketball, who develops a special friendship with an old man called William Forrester, a former The Pulitzer Prize winner having a reclusive life in an apartment, Bronx, New York. At the beginning, Jamal notices that William spies him playing basketball his apartment’s the window. One day at night, Jamal plays a dare game with his friends, so he sneaks into William’s apartment. But he has been found and leaves his backpack in there accidently when he runs out. Later, Jamal has a discussion about BMW company history with BMW car owner who regularly delivers supplies to William to show his talent. After the delivery man leaves, when Jamal walks back, his backpack drops from the window. Jamal takes it back home and he finds out that the notebooks in the backpack with his writing has been edited. Then Jamal tries to know more about this old man but William tells him to write 5000 words about why Jamal should stay out. Eventually, William is impressive by Jamal and let him in to start conversation. Meanwhile, Jamal’s impressive test score caught a celebrated private high school’s attention and he is invited to go there. When he has a book reading assignment in that private high school, he suddenly realizes that William Forrester, the writer of the book, is the old man in apartment. He unmasks William in front of him. He asks William to help his writing by promising to William keep secret. Later the other night, Jamal finally takes William out to a New York Knicks basketball game in Madison Square Garden. But William is pressed by the crowd and gets lost. With Jamal’s help, they leave there and go to the Yankee’s stadium. In there, William Forrester starts telling Jamal his family history. And in school, Jamal is caught in plagiarism in a writing contest. Then he has a big argument with Forrester. After that, Forrster finally rediscovers himself and step up for Jamal in school.

So far, this is a great and inspiring movie. The actors precisely depict the characters personalities and feelings. The plot is coherent and the relationship between a teenager and an old man is new and attractive. I feel William Forrester is the character I most relate to. He becomes reclusive after his family members died. And I’m not very talkative either. After I went to high school and the came to college, I feel those close friends are gone and I don’t know whom to talk with. Thus, till now, I think the most important theme is this special friendship which a well known old writer tutors a talented black American boy writing skill. And the question it raises is that people can not be alone, they should go out and get to know others.