Dir. Lasse Hallström
Starring: Johnny Depp, Leonardo
DiCaprio, Juliette Lewis, Mary Steenburgen
I got a DVD of What’s Eating Gilbert Grape free with a
newspaper quite some time ago. I never got around to watching it, before
binning it last year. It just never particularly appealed to me. Watching it
now I realise that I was missing out. What’s
Eating Gilbert Grape is a very good – if rather leisurely – film, lifter by
an astonishing performance from a young Leonardo DiCaprio.
The action is set in the small
town of Endora , Iowa . Johnny Depp is Gilbert. Gilbert works
in the town’s always empty grocery. He is also almost a full-time carer for his
dysfunctional but loving family: massively obese mother Bonnie (Darlene Cates),
eldest sister Amy (Laura Harrington), schoolgirl Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt)
and younger brother Arnie (DiCaprio) who has learning difficulties. He is also having a casual affair with
local yummy mummy Betty (Mary Steenburgen). And casual is the word. Gilbert
drifts through life passively. It is the need to provide for his family –
particularly the spirited Arnie who has severe learning difficulties – that
provides the only direction in his life.
Not long before Arnie’s 18th
birthday Gilbert’s world is shaken when a motor caravan breaks down just
outside town. This particular incident brings Becky (Juliet Lewis) into his
orbit until a replacement part can be delivered. Becky catches Gilbert’s
attention. And as his attention wanders things start to go wrong. He leaves
Arnie to bath himself one evening; the next morning the boy is found shivering
in the tub of cold water and refuses to wash again because he “almost drownded”. He breaks off his
fling with Betty; a chain of events is started in motion that concludes with
her husband keeling over from a heart attack and her having to leave town due
to rumours that she murdered him. And he takes his eyes off Arnie whilst
enjoying an evening with Becky; Arnie runs off to climb to town’s water tower,
whereupon he is arrested by the Sheriff. Becky represents freedom and the
possibility of escaping from Endora. However Gilbert is chained to the town by
his mother and brother. It is this battle that is played out, gently, over
almost two hours of screen time.
Gilbert is a character that has
given up on ambition and drive. When Becky asks him to reply, as quick as
possible, what he wants in life, he pauses and then says “I want to be a good person.” He is almost totally selfless. This
is why the accusations of selfishness by his family when Arnie gets into
trouble really wound him. He cares about Arnie, and for the first time in his
life he is daring to dream of getting something for himself. He is trapped in a
net of people’s expectations of him. His obese mother has never stepped outside
the house her dead husband built for the family for seven years (this mirrors
the real life story of Darlene Cates who played her; until the film came
calling she had not left her own home for five years). As Gilbert puts it, “my mom is sort of attached to the house.
Attached is, I guess, not the right word. She’s pretty much wedged in.” When
he asks Betty why, out of all the men in town, she chose him for her affair her
reply is that “I knew you’d always be
there. Because I knew you’d never leave.” He is part of the furniture,
safe, reliable… bland. On the rare occasions when Gilbert does express
convictions – such as telling Mr Lamson that he would rather die than go to Food
Land – he doesn’t sound very convinced by them. He is a perfect fit for a small
town.
But the small town is threatened
by outsiders. The caravans usually just pass through at the same time every
year, en route from somewhere more exciting to somewhere else more exciting. It
is the fact that Becky is forced to stop here until the car can be repaired
that upsets his world. The grocery store is dying on its feet in the face of
competition from Food
Land on the outskirts.
The arrival of a Burger Barn, shipped in complete, to sit beside it is another
nail in the coffin on the deserted high street. Leaving Endora is a lure. Betty
takes her family away once the small-town whispers get too much. Gilbert tries to
leave, only to turn his truck around once he gets to the city limits.
The Grape Escape: Gilbert, Arnie and Becky (Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Juliette Lewis) |
The film really revolves around
Leonardo DiCaprio as Arnie. Now I am not a particular fan of little Leo. But
here he puts on a quite astonishing performance. He is absolutely believable.
The actor vanishes. There is not a false note in his portrayal of Arnie as an
energetic and loveable but demanding and illogical boy. His accent, his
mannerisms, his physicality and his exuberance all added up to what I have to
call one of the most remarkable transformations I can recall seeing. I was a
little bit upset when I read Leo’s own words about his spending time with “mentally retarded children”, words
which actually caused me to recoil a little, because otherwise he gives a
bigheartedly sympathetic performance as the strange boy that bursts into
people’s lives like a ray of sun, and then rapidly wears them out.
I wonder where Swedish director
Lasse Hallström grew up, as he seems to have an eye for the minutiae of small
town life and the chains which hold people back from escaping. The pace is, as
I’ve said, ‘leisurely’ throughout (I did find myself glancing at my watch even
while I was enjoying the performances on screen). That is, until the last ten
minutes, when the tone turns unexpectedly dark. But he populates Endora with
believable characters such as the ever-helpful Tucker (the great John C. Reilly
in one of his earliest roles), and the enthusiastic undertaker Bobby (Crispin
Glover – otherwise known as George McFly from Back to the Future). One of the best small moments, which did not
need to be included but which gives a great bit of flavour, is when Gilbert has
to go to Food Land to buy a replacement birthday cake for Arnie. He comes out
to find Mr Lamson (Tim Green) sat out front in his car. They make eye-contact.
And Mr Lamson gives the most wonderful expression of hurt. That moment, for me,
sums up everything the film is about. In trying to do right, Gilbert hurts
someone. And it also expresses the fascination the outside world holds for the
small town, even though it is killing them.
What have I learnt about Iowa ?
I’ve spent so much time this year
slating small-town mentalities that I feel almost strange sticking up for the
small towns here. I much prefer the Endora main street with its family-run
grocers, insurance agents, undertakers and cafes to the out-of-town corporate
chains and franchises like Food
Land and Burger Barn.
People like Tucker who are always ready to help out with odd jobs are the
backbone of a successful community. But I can see that people like Gilbert
might feel the need to escape, to get away from the same setting, faces and
scenarios day after day. But the fields, the water holes, the self-built houses
and the central town watertower leave lasting impressions of small town
scenery.
And for outsiders Iowa is just so much
roadside. They drive through to get from A to B, but would not stop to
investigate unless they were forced by circumstances to.
Can we go there?
You can, but you won’t be going
to Iowa . What’s Eating Gilbert Grape was filmed around
Austin in Texas .
The town of Manor provided the trademark water tower up
which Arnie loves to climb. Lamson’s Grocery was really Manor Grocery. However
the impressive courthouse seen when the Grapes go to pick up Arnie from the
police station is nearby Lockhart, “the barbecue capital of Texas ”.
Other scenes were shot in Elgin, “the
sausage capital of Texas ”.
Forget eating Gilbert Grape, I have a craving for eating barbecued bangers
right now!
The Food
Land supermarket is located at the
intersection of I-35 and Texas State Highway 29 in Georgetown . The Grape residence was Quicksand Farm on Hodde Lane outside Pflugerville.
Obviously it is there no longer.
Overall Rating: 4/5
I'm so glad this movie is still being talked about and praised 20 years after it came out. It's one of the best movies ever made--so unique, poignant, and moving in so many different ways with so many layers.
ReplyDeleteBut I didn't know the house they used wasn't there anymore?? This is the website for it by the people who live there/own it--I think it's still there or they would have noted that on the homepage there:
http://www.bolaman.com/ggrape.htm
Thanks!