Finding Forrester

2000 "In an ordinary place, he found the one person to make his life extraordinary."
7.3| 2h16m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 21 December 2000 Released
Producted By: Columbia Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Gus Van Sant tells the story of a young African American man named Jamal who confronts his talents while living on the streets of the Bronx. He accidentally runs into an old writer named Forrester who discovers his passion for writing. With help from his new mentor Jamal receives a scholarship to a private school.

Genre

Drama

Watch Online

Finding Forrester (2000) is now streaming with subscription on Prime Video

Director

Gus Van Sant

Production Companies

Columbia Pictures

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial
Watch Now
Finding Forrester Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Finding Forrester Audience Reviews

Lawbolisted Powerful
Listonixio Fresh and Exciting
Forumrxes Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.
Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
abusamhi I like the most when it says that Jamal Wallace is playing basket ball for acceptance amidst the friends and that is not his passion... people do that a lot.. they do so many things for acceptance. Two equally passionate people from different world, colour, ages shares the love of passion makes millions of feelings inside.
adonis98-743-186503 Because of scoring exceptionally high on a statewide standardized exam and being an exceptionally good basketball player Jamal Wallace is sent to a prestigious prep school in Manhattan. He soon befriends the reclusive writer, William Forrester. The friendship leads William to overcome his reclusiveness and for Jamal to overcome the racial prejudices and pursue his true dream - writing. Finding Forrester is a 2000 Drama starring Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin and Michael Pitt and the film was directed by Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting). What i really liked about this film was the relationship between Jamal and William they had some sort of father and son relationship or whatever you wanna call it but both Brown and Connery are really great in this film and they have a pretty good chemistry plus i liked Abraham as Prof. Robert Crawford he was kinda of the main 'villain' of the Story because he didn't believe Jamal and he didn't believe that he would have a future besides Basketball of course Paquin is also really good. Overall i don't think that there's much more to say it was just a really good Drama with the main actors being really good in their roles and Gus Van Sant just knows how to direct a well made and well directed Drama plus Sean Connery is good in anything he stars.
jefferyberdine Finding Forrester (2000) Jeffery Berdine Senior at Weatherford High SchoolThe story of Finding Forrester is about a teenage boy named Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) who in the eyes of others, is like any teenager from the Bronx. He has a talent for the written word, something that peaks the interest of a grumpy tenant, who Jamal meets after breaking into his apartment for a dare. Jamal soon visits the ill- natured older man, who turns out to be Mr. William Forrester (Sean Connery) a once famous author, now a recluse. Mr. Forrester helps Jamal write the way any good writer should, soon when Jamal goes to a new and better school for his test taking talents. After Jamal turns in one of the works of writing in, it causes a tear between him and Forrester, and his English teacher Mr. Crawford (F. Murray Abraham). The amazingness of the writing causes the teacher to doubt his credibility of the work, because of Jamal's background , soon causing the two, in a word into mortal enemies. A silver lining appears in the form of William Forrester, two lives are changed for eternity.Finding Forrester was a film I found that I really enjoyed, the bond between Jamal and Forrester was a good part of why I liked it. The unusual friendship caused me to be intrigued. This would possibly interest all types of people mature enough, for some of the language used, but possibly anyone.The four Archetypes I have seen the most are the Mentor, a Tower, the Hero, and unity. First the Mentor, which in this movie is Mr. William Forrester, helping Jamal with not just his writing, but his personal life as well. Jamal swaps roles with Forrester at near the end and becomes his mentor. Next the Tower is represented as Mr. Forrester's Apartment, an alone building, sitting by itself. Where Forrester chooses to be alone, to escape the rest of humanity. A Hero, but not an average hero, a hero that doesn't really conform to the archetype, but nevertheless brings Forrester into the light. Finally the one, Unity, again the lone apartment building, the one place the two continuously are in this film, the main area, or stage of the film. The one place they are drawn, the one place Jamal stays.Now, why the writers used these very archetypes is possibly for their simple story telling. The hero has a not great child hood, meets an older man who then becomes his mentor for they share a talent or same interest. Originally the mentor has kept himself locked away, but the hero rescues him in a way he can't believe, then the help each other maybe not at the same time, but they do. This one tower, becomes their place of congregation, and becomes a center stage for most of the story.With four archetypes you can create an entire world, and that's what happened and any story could possibly be as amazing as this one. I would recommend this to anyone to watch, as it is very heartwarming, and anything with Sean Connery, must be good.
johnrussum John Russum 4th Period Finding Forrester Movie AnalysisThe film Finding Forrester is an interesting story about a boy from the Bronx named Jamal. Jamal like the majority of his friends enjoy the game of basketball, however Jamal has another talent that he prefers to keep hidden. After his excellent test scores he is offered to go to a private school to further both his basketball career and academic career. This film illustrates the journey of Jamal's life as he is learning more about not just writing but also life lessons from his un expected mentor from "The window". This journey will not only benefit Jamal but also William Forester as he learns about friendship.This film was very well developed and organized, I truly believe that there are not many people who will dislike watching this movie, however I do believe it takes an educated mind to be able to truly understand the point that the movie writer in trying to make. Therefore, while I do believe this movie could be enjoyed by just about every age group if you lack knowledge in author's purpose it could be very hard to understand the true meaning of the film. This film illustrated an abundance of archetypal characters throughout the movie. Who you would expect to be the hero, Jamal would better reflect the qualities of an initiate in the earlier parts of the film. Though he is very bright and intelligent he still lacks many skills which he seeks to learn from his mentor. Jamal is very self educated and is not afraid to stand up for what he believes in as shown in many scenes of the movie. He lives with his mom and brother which care for him very much and want what is best for him to better his life. William Forester could be best represented as the mentor in the film. Although at the beginning of the film he is seen as a creepy stalker who most people think is a murderer is actually a great mentor and is very important to this story line. At first him and Jamal don't exactly see eye to eye but that changes over the course of the year as he critiques not only his writing skills but also big life lessons. Jamal's father is unknown of in this film which allows his mentor (Mr. Forester) to be a father figure for him. Claire is a close friend of Jamal's after he switches schools to Mailor-Callow. From day one she helps him get used to everything and it's easy to tell that they will be close friends as the school year goes on. It quickly becomes obvious that Jamal and Claire become very fond of each other and their feelings grow closer making her the temptress. Early in his basketball career at his new school he meets the star player John Hartwell which they quickly go head to head and are very aggressive toward each other on the court. It would be easiest to depict him as the threshold guardian, a prime example of this would be when both John and Jamal are scrimmaging in practice and Jamal is trying to prove himself worthy of having a spot on the team. The Archetypes displayed throughout this film is truly what allowed the story line to not only flow better but also grab the audience's attention. When you are able to have multiple connections to the main character like in this film it really puts the focus on Jamal as being an underdog that rises to the top due to the help of others (even if the help was unintended).