‘You’re my knight in shimmering armour. Did you know that?’
Swedish director Lasse Hallström makes films that somehow capture the sepia-tinged glow of autumn leaves and life’s big moments. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, a staple of video shops in the ’90s, epitomises the cinematic version of Midwestern America. It’s a film that could only exist in the ’90s (for a myriad of reasons) and as such it’s a joy to revisit it today…
Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) is the glue that holds his struggling family together. His Momma (Darlene Cates) is morbidly obese. His younger brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio) has an intellectual disability that makes him difficult to handle. Gilbert’s younger sisters Amy (Laura Harrington) and Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt) snipe from the sidelines. On top of this, Gilbert is juggling an affair with a married woman (Mary Steenburgen) and a crush on a local girl, Becky (Juliette Lewis). Elsewhere, John C. Reilly and Crispin Glover occasionally show up to wax lyrical on relationships, the American Dream and burger joints.
Not to go all ‘you can’t say anything these days’ but this film would not be released today. The howls of indignation about fatism and portrayals of disability would drown out the fact that this is a beautifully acted, lovingly crafted and emotionally resonant movie. DiCaprio delivers a revelatory performance, always being cautious to imbue Arnie with a personality beyond just ‘disabled’, and he was rightfully Oscar nominated (eventually losing out to Tommy Lee Jones and his turn in The Fugitive). Depp’s performance is just as complex and nuanced. The titular protagonist is so often a blank slate but when all that emotion does bubble to the surface, Depp really delivers, particularly in the poignant scenes he shares with Juliette Lewis (who is also excellent).
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape is a tender and impassioned film that never threatens to resort to sentimentality for sentimentality’s sake – this is a rare example of everyone firing on all cylinders. A must watch.