Have you seen this Underrated classic? What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Introduction - Two unknown young actors, soon to become superstars, give subtle performances in a overlooked classic about the depth of family ties.

Title - What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Poster

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Year: 1993

Director: Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström

Why this movie:

This is a creative, analytical movie about a young man, Gilbert Grape, played with style and cool by Johnny Depp. His autistic younger brother, Arnie, is played by an extremely young looking Leonardo Di Caprio. Both give heartwarming commitment to this movie - Di Caprio in particular, gives a complex performance - his chaotic bursts of emotion upset his family but at the same time, make him loveable. He earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for this role.
Gilbert's family live in a small town in Iowa - Gilbert is detached and moody, he delivers groceries, he has an affair with a married woman, he is strung out over his home life. His father has committed suicide and he is now the man of the family. Meanwhile his mother struggles with obesity, yet remains resilient, loving and fiercely protective.
This film was both overlooked by some critics and treasured by others, for its' delicate emotionally driven style. This reviewer falls in the latter category. The future superstars create an everyday reality that could not have predicted their future roles - Depp’ as swashbuckling pirate and Di Caprio as a maniac mogul in Wolf of Wall Street.
Depp in one interview, admitted that he got easily irritated by his co-star during the filming of the movie. "It was a hard time for me, for some reason. I don't know why. I tortured him - I really did. He was always talking about these video games, you know. I was in a kind of dark period...the absolute truth is that I respect Leo a lot. He worked really hard on that film, and spent a lot of time researching. He came to set and he was ready to work hard."
And so the bond and frustration between the two can easily be seen here - Depp as Gilbert, is growing up too fast with no time to enjoy his youth and freedom. There is too much expected of him. In one emotional scene, he has to rescue Arnie from a massive water tower that he has climbed on his own on a whim.
Mental health is a theme throughout for the Grape family - played as a believable truth behind the closed doors of suburbia. It shows a family functioning in the best way it can, with resilience, humour and compassion - for that, this reviewer sees What's Eating Gilbert Grape as a small treasure.
Swedish born, Lars Sven "Lasse" Hallström, first became known for directing music videos for ABBA, and subsequently became a feature film director. He was nominated for Oscars for, My Life as a Dog and The Cider House Rules, both emotionally driven films.
Filming for this film, took place from November 1992 to January 1993 in Texas. The performances all around, earned much acclaim. DiCaprio at 19, received his first Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, becoming the seventh-youngest nominee for the former.