Spring Forward (2000)

The Age of Commercialism

good back-story, and good acting

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Okay, fine. You're right. It's a little sappy. But only a little. Mostly this movie is sweet, and there's nothing wrong with sweet. Sweet works. Sweet has driven filmmakers from Frank Capra and George Stevens to Pedro Almodovar and Wes Anderson. Saccharine, now, saccharine is bad, as any Michael Bay or Richard Donner movie will prove. But saccharine, this movie rarely is.This is one of those movies that looks like it used to be a play: two guys sit in a pickup, and the old one lets the young one know everything's gonna be okay. A problem in American movies is that we like our mentors to learn something from their students. This is partly a result of the American obsession with youth. But this movie puts all its wisdom in Ned Beatty's mouth, which makes more sense, because who's gonna have the answers: a panicky 25-year-old ex-con or a middle-aged middle-class guy next door to retirement? One lameness this movie shares with another 1999 entry, "American Beauty," is the delighted goofiness of the uptight guy after smoking a joint. I do not deny that drugs can change one's mind. I merely suggest that writers may find a better and more socially responsible metaphor for mind expansion than marijuana.I watched this movie with two Christian girls, one of whom was clearly bored and a little put off by the sympathetic reference to a gay scoutmaster. (She was much happier watching the reprehensible "Hostage," in which a child was shot before the credits just to whet her appetite.) The other girl appreciated the inherently Christian values of "Spring Forward," including tolerance and mercy.Maybe best of all, this is the 135th acting job in a row in which Ned Beatty is not raped.

I liked this movie and found it an interesting character study that creates a hypnotic viewing experience. A few times the writing can be a bit overboard, but it's mostly very good.The one scene that stood out to me as really out of character was one towards the first where the character Paul runs off into the woods and starts crying. To me, it seemed vary unlikely that it would've happened this way. It doesn't seem likely, and this seemed more like a blunt object to set up the plot and background than coming out of the character here.To me, this movie was much more interesting for things that were unsaid than for the things that were said. The negative space is used well and I was glad they didn't follow up everything with some explanation of what happened next. You have to stay observant and make connections rather than expecting to be spoon fed. Nothing is certain in life, and neither is this movie. If you want a very linear storyline then go see something else. But if you want to examine the edges of things that are said and things that are meant, but not said, this is a good movie.Fascinating to watch. Peri Gilpin's brief appearance was perfect, also.

I love well-executed films of personal transformation and this is one of the best I have ever seen. The filmmaker did an incredible job of casting, dialog, site selection, physical transformation of the two characters, story development, cinematography... I discovered the movie on IFC while working out today and I ended up working out an extra two hours, just so I would not miss any of the film. I was intrigued by the young character, unable to place him, having recently seen him on stage in NYC and as the film unfolded, the character lost the facial hair, and I recognized Liev -- who I believe to be one of today's greatest contemporary actors. Having lived in Ridgefield, CT for ten years, the references were near to my heart, and a wonderful surprise. I absolutely loved this movie.

SPRING FORWARD (2000) ***1/2 Ned Beatty, Leiv Schreiber, Campbell Scott, Peri Gilpin, Ian Hart, Bill Raymond, Catherine Kellner. Excellent acting displayed by Beatty and Schreiber as parks department co-workers who bond together in a father/son capacity during the course of one life-changing year with fine turns by both an accomplished veteran character actor and a younger, promising one, respectively. Has the soul of a short story come to life that takes its sweet time to unfurl with more-than-meets-the eye shadings of its subjects. A real sleeper gem of independent filmmaking by first time writer/director Tom Gilroy.