What's Eating Gilbert Grape

You have a choice with this film. You can watch it on a surface level or you can watch it deeply. I have done both. I enjoyed the surface stuff, then watched it again a few weeks later and was blown away by it. Leonardo De Caprio gives the performance of his life as a young boy with learning disabilities, its incredible. The film is so finely nuanced that tiny little stuff staggers you. It is beautifully shot with great performances all round - more then once it bought a huge lump to my throat. I consider this to be a great film, emotionally intelligent, understated and fine. Johnny Depp is frighteningly beautiful which adds to his performance as a slightly disaffected youth, bored witless but trying to do his best by his family. The scene where he loses it and slaps his learning disabled brother is almost unbearable. The ending is, well, great. Buy this, curl up on the couch and watch it deeply, its incredibly well observed - just dont miss the point

Having watched pretty much all of Leo's films..this has to be right up there with the best acting of them all. I'd say they all did a good job throughout the movie but to have played the part as well as he did..Leo needed to study the disability and have some sympathy with the problem to be able to choreograph the tics and the movements and the excitement so very well. A joy to watch. And..at a young age as an actor too.. very well directed, some humorous moments, feelings away from the family chores, townsfolk ignorance, just a very well put together story which can only be appreciated from the armchair.Loved it and recommend it to anyone.

This is another Johnny Depp film I was unaware of before Amazon brought it to my attention through a recommendation email, a big thanks to Amazon! as this is a fantastic film, a straight role for Johnny Depp perfectly executed, but an absolutely amazing performance from a young Leonardo DiCaprio, wow! he plays the part of Gilberts (Depp) younger brother who has severe autism, Leonardo was only 19 when he made this film, and he puts in a stunning and thoughtful portrayal of someone with autism, his acting ability is without question astonishing. Two superb actors side by side, telling a very touching story.

What's eating Gilbert Grape? Ennui, that's what's eating him up. He is a man whose patience is running out. And one night, it does.I'm a big fan of Lasse Hallstrom's movies. And this is one of his signature feel-good movies, laced with the potential for heart-breaking tragedy in smalltownsville. But sometimes I felt like Gilbert Grape himself in that two hours of smalltownsville was too much to take. The storyline is not free of problems, but with Hallstrom plot is not necessarily the main driver; rather, what's important are events that have the capacity to change someone's outlook, someone's life in a positive way.But, we all know who is the real star of this movie and it's not the guy whose name heads the cast list. No, Depp gives here a competent performance as the eponymous Gilbert, but it's the young Leonardo DiCaprio as his younger brother who steals the show in a brilliant performance worthy of his Oscar nomination. A career-best performance? Let's hope not, but it'll take some beating.Alas, on my disc, there are no extras.

Having recently read the wonderful book, I was pleased to see that Peter Hedges also wrote the screenplay.An excellent performance from a young Johnny Depp is totally eclipsed by that of the, then, 19 year old Leonardo DiCaprio. His depiction of Arnie who suffers from autism is nothing short of amazing. Indeed his performance is so convincing that at the time of release (1993) critics thought DiCaprio was actually autistic!Not to be missed.

Great condition preowned dvd.It played with no jumping or freezing so I was able to enjoy one of my favourite older movies.It arrived in 2-3 days after purchase.So delivery is prompt and it was packaged well.

rubbsh film

This remarkable understated film is one of my favorites of all time. It tells the story of a midwestern guy (Depp) coping with his menial, boring and often challenging day to day existence. Leonardo di Caprio shows here that he's capable of so much more than we get to see of him these days. The performances of every major character in this film is great, from Gilberts vastly overweight mother to the transient character played by Juliete Lewis, however it's easy to see in this film why Johnny Depp has become such a huge star, not just because of his looks but a truly memorable performance.The film tackles issues of prejudice and adversity with delicacy and a wry touch. It's beautifully filmed and completely uncontrived, a truly rare film which I would and do recommend to anyone that listens!