What’s Eating Gilbert Grape

Creating a movie about a person with special needs isn’t always the easiest task, as they can often be very predictable and formulaic, can feel more like sympathy Oscar-bait traps rather than authentic pieces of film, and it can be very easily to fall into the problem of portraying said condition in either an overly negative (to the point of being offensive) or an overly fantastical light (like giving someone with autism the equivalent of ”superpowers”) to the point that nobody feels good while watching it. With all this in mind, the 1993 coming-of-age film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape manages to meddle with that checklist a bit and provide a film that proves to be a wholesome, well-acted and realistic approach to living with things that are holding you back both mentally and even physically. Set in the small town of Endora, Iowa, Gilbert Grape (played by Johnny Depp) has been forced to take up the mantle of looking after the house and his family after his father tragically committed suicide seventeen years prior. That matched with his morbidly obese mother Bonnie, (played by Darlene Cates), being stuck in an affair with lonely rich mother named Betty Carver (played by Mary Steenburgen), and constantly having to watch over his intellectually-disabled little brother, Arnie (played by a very young Leonardo DiCaprio), Gilbert fears he will never amount to anything and be stuck forever in this tragic loop forever, though hope comes in the form of a young girl named Becky (played by Juliette Lewis) who brings that hope of freedom he desperately needs and a romance starts to bloom. The rest of the movie focuses on the Grape’s everyday routines, how Arnie always seems to make it a challenge, and Gilbert has to decides how long he can take it before he finally disappears from this old life forever. Though considered a box office bomb, the film did well enough critically and did effectively jump start the career of Leonardo DiCaprio after receiving an Oscar nomination for his role. Based on the 1991 novel of the same named written by Peter Hedges (who also wrote the screenplay for the film), What’s Eating Gilbert Grape doesn’t feel like its glorifying any of its content and instead uses it cleverly as a catalyst for a more mellow movie with a softer tone and lively environment. Though arguably still predictable and offers a few little plot points with no purpose, the film surprisingly works quite well with good actors, a likeable atmosphere, good cinematography, and provides a more laid-back story with a focus on those living with a mental disability without feeling too forced.

Most movies that have a focus on any form of disability whether it be physical, mental, or psychological are going to have a certain formula to them, regardless of quality. You will have a situation where someone who is struggling with said condition will either put in the care of attached to someone who is forced to look after them, there will be several hurdles and inconveniences to overcome that will result in a final breaking point where someone goes too far, and it will more than likely end in a situation where the secondary person is grateful for the person of focus regardless of what they put them through. While this film is still guilty of that exact layout, it’s done in a way that feels more effectively built-up and natural, and something more in line with how this kind of story would naturally play out. With the focus being more on Johnny Depp’s character rather than Leo’s role, it doesn’t feel like the movie is revolving around that singular conflict, but rather it is a piece of a much larger puzzle that contributes to these boiling emotions that eventually steam over. It has a vibe more akin to a Stephen King story rather than something along the lines of Rain Man, and it honestly works much better for that. The film is very laid-back; with a softer narrative, simple characters, very obvious morals, and a slower pace that allows its audience to sink in and just feel the kind of tone the movie is trying to present and managing to achieve. It’s a movie where it can relish in that form of storytelling, and it makes it about people in general, rather than just a hyper-focus on a specific point of focus, allowing a lot of the other people in this movie to feel important and showcase what they’re going through and how they are dealing with similar struggles of being stuck in a low-end town and not being able to escape their supposed destiny in life. It’s a purely emotion-based movie through and through where the story doesn’t contain a lot of complexities, but its characters have a sense of depth to them regardless and when the emotions are felt, its quick to understand why and how. It’s just the life of this one man and how he deals with it, and it bizarrely works quite well in that regard as it doesn’t have any bad guys or any strong twists, it’s just life and the struggles that can come with just simple living with hard situations. Even though the movie is long and not the most interesting in terms of its content, the directing by Lasse Hallström keeps the audience at least invested in what’s its conveying and portrays this small-scale story in the appropriate manner. However, the film’s ending seems to drag a bit too long and continues on from a point where it should have cut off earlier. It’s the only part where it feels like its dragging despite being only 10 mins long, and it proves to feel largely pointless in the grand scheme of the movie.

The strengths of this movie would not work as well if not for the acting as most of the actors portray these roles very effectively and very realistically with enough grounding to feel like real people, but still have that cinematic edge that separates it into more interesting territory. The starring attraction of the movie is not surprisingly Leonardo DiCaprio portraying the character or Arnie, who lives with a mental disability. Despite his kind of one-track manner of acting that he has adopted later in his career, he has always proven to be passionate and always puts in effort in his roles, and it feels no different here. This could very easily come off as too forced or even phoney, but it honestly never does as everything down to the inflections, the mannerisms, the speech pattern, and the emotions portrayed and reactions to everything, it feels remarkably genuine and works well enough to a point where it doesn’t come off as annoying. He doesn’t go too far that he becomes a troupe or a stereotype in movies where they do nothing but stumble their words and cause annoyances, he feels like a genuine person who can do things, but just in a slower way than most. Johnny Depp as the main character is played very chill and standard, with a softer tone and simpler delivery. He doesn’t stand out as much as the other actors in the movie and it doesn’t really feel like you needed someone of Depp’s calibre to play this kind of role as it doesn’t feel like it needed to be a bigger name (he wasn’t at his peak yet, but he was still a name), but with that said, he still does the role well, brings a fair amount of emotion to the part, and even the relationship between him and the little brother is actually pretty effective. What doesn’t work as well is Juliette Lewis as the love interest. Though not terrible, she seems a bit stiff in delivery and neither her nor Depp have that much chemistry with each other to the point that it feels like the romance was needed, though any of the scenes she shares with DiCaprio well enough. Most of the side characters don’t have a lot of screen time and even some, including most of the grape family, could have been cut out altogether and not a lot would’ve been lost to the overall plot, but most of the others are given an element of mystery that use that their advantage. They tell a story in the small amount they show, making it feel like an actual neighbourhood situation where gossip can spread and each person has their own secrets, getting people intrigued on what’s real and what’s just misunderstanding.  Stuff like the affair with the miserable wife (who might house a darker intent) or the obese mother who is viewed as a laughingstock by the town, but more of a tragedy to her family aren’t essential to the story but give the movie more dimensions and adds to the uncomfortable situation and atmosphere being built throughout the whole movie.

You can feel much feel that this is a novel-based property, not just through the flow of the story or even the fact that the very author of the book wrote the film it was based on (therefore containing a pretty much identical writing style and personality) but it’s not in a way where it becomes too distracting or like it didn’t nicely transition from one medium to the other. At times there are some very obvious metaphors that get crammed down the audience’s throat and even every once and a while there is a line of dialogue that’s a little too cheesy (particularly involved with the romance between Depp and Lewis) but the film does still have enough visual storytelling that it balances out the narration and the dialogue. The writing is very homey and down-to-earth which matches with the film’s setting and tone very well, the character feels like book constructions with very obvious traits and visual aspects that make them stand out quite well on film and seem to be portrayed very effectively, and the story is not overly dramatic, but rather calming and fits perfectly with that old-town vibe. The film has some very good shots in it composed by cinematographer Sven Nykvist, especially when it features a sunset with opens skies and fields, with a lot of far-off shots that show both the scale but also minuscule nature of this location and the film in general. The musical score by Alan Parker and Björn Isfält at times can feel very wishy washy and a bit too hokey at times, but it works when it’s used effectively in a scene that requires that kind of vibe.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a simple and sometimes corny, yet effective story about the importance of family and finding your place in the world. With enough charming atmosphere and simplistic storytelling to not feel overblown, but still with enough investment in its characters and relatable situations to keep the audience engaged. While nothing drastic, it has a lot of great acting, some very nice cinematography and delivers a still predictable, but realistic look into living with someone who is struggling with a specific condition, but never treats them as lesser because of it. It’s a film that offers the right amount of Oscar-grab material without coming off as too needy or desperate, check it out and get sucked into the movie’s charming simplicity and appreciate how the smallest beginnings can sometimes lead to the biggest accomplishments.