With the smash hit “Inception” hitting shelves next week, I thought now would be as good a time as ever to revisit a little-known movie of its star, Leonardo DiCaprio. I’ve featured virtually every supporting cast member in the “F.I.L.M. of the Week” column before, and it’s time for the Academy Award-nominated DiCaprio to join their ranks.
(For the sake of reference and shameless promotion, I’ll list the other stars and their criminally underseen gems: Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s, “The Lookout,” Tom Hardy’s “Bronson,” Ellen Page’s “Hard Candy,” Marion Cotillard’s “La Vie en Rose,” Cillian Murphy’s “Sunshine,” Michael Caine’s, “Children of Men,” and director Christopher Nolan’s “Following.” Ken Watanabe … perhaps coming soon?)
So for Leo’s entry, I submit “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” This is one of his early movies, four years before “Titanic” superstardom, and at 19, he shows the same mastery of acting as he does in the psychologically tormented characters that he played in 2010. Here, his Arnie suffers a different mental affectation: a developmental disability that was supposed to take his life at the age of 10.
Eight years later, his care is left largely in the hands of older brother Gilbert Grape, played by a younger, red-haired Johnny Depp. Gilbert struggles with his circumstances: he’s frustrated living in the small town of Endora, Iowa, where nothing seems to happen. He’s tired of being stuck in a job at the down-home town grocery store, preventing him from using the modern supermarket that has opened nearby. He’s fed up with his family whose apathy leaves him with all the responsibilities since his obese mother is practically immobile, his father has deserted the family, and his siblings are caught up in their own little worlds.
But when the yearly exodus of trailers comes through the town, Gilbert is offered some relief from his dreary existence by the prospect of romance with Becky (the ever-so-’90s Juliette Lewis). Her presence shakes up his life, making him more hesitant to add sensuality to his grocery delivery for the maritally frustrated Betty Carver (Mary Steenburgen). But there are more profound changes that happens in Gilbert and his life, and director Lasse Hallstrom unravels the Grape family saga with such sensitivity that it’s irresistible and profoundly satisfying to watch.
There’s so much emotional depth endowed to this character that isn’t externalized by Depp, and 10 years before his first Oscar nomination, anyone who saw this movie could have seen it coming. But the real star of “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” is DiCaprio, who surrenders to the character to the extent that it’s possible to forget who you’re watching. To think that this is the same actor who wowed us in “The Departed” and “Inception” becomes hard to believe as we watch his overwhelming physicality draws our eyes to him for the entirety of the movie’s two hours.
I have no intention of seeing “Piranha 3D” … really, ever. But for the sequel (which seems strange to already plan given the movie’s lackluster box office receipts), I might be kind of interested. The folks running the marketing may have come up with the greatest way for moviegoers to participate in creating a movie. Sorry, I just couldn’t bring myself to say art.
Countdown to “Inception” is at T-minus 3 days. I haven’t bought my ticket to go at midnight yet, but I plan on doing so today.
I think a Best Picture nomination is in the bag. Judging from what I’ve read, the movie is good enough to get it on its own merit; the atonement factor only helps. 
And given that people will undoubtedly chalk up the success of “Inception” to writer/director Christopher Nolan, he will probably go along for the ride and receive a Best Director nomination. Even if Best Picture hopes fade over the next few months, Nolan could easily stay in the discussion for director based on the visual style the movie possesses. The decade has seen plenty of lone director nods for stylistic triumphs – David Lynch for “Mulholland Drive,” Pedro Almodovar for “Talk to Her,” Fernando Mierelles for “City of God,” Julian Schnabel for “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” – although it’s probably less likely with the expanded field.
Martin Scorsese’s “Shutter Island” hits stores today. While in theaters, the movie garnered pretty good reviews and made a nice sum at the box office on some pretty nice legs. But could it get any serious Oscar nominations like Best Picture even though it was released in February?
Although “Shutter Island” is much more Academy-friendly than “The Blind Side,” it did not meet the expectations many people have of a movie that bears the name of Martin Scorsese. According to Rotten Tomatoes, it is his lowest-rated movie since “Boxcar Bertha” nearly 4o years ago (in the pre-“Taxi Driver” era). This is where the box office performance and good reception by the fans will help. It did a good job of keeping an audience, staying in the top 10 for a tremendous seven weeks and having an average drop of about 40% per weekend.
I found out today that for a part that I am playing in the musical “Kiss Me, Kate,” I need to get a gangster accent. So to get this accent, where else am I turning but the movies? My initial thought was Robert DeNiro in “GoodFellas” for a very threatening accent, but I’m now thinking that Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Departed” might be good as well.
Marshall and the Movies 
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