Drama
American
1997 · Directed by Gus Van Sant · 127 min
A janitor at a Boston university turns out to have an extraordinary mathematical mind, but he also has a temper, a record and a talent for keeping people at arm's length. Those who notice his gift try to steer him, and the film is mostly conversations: funny, bruising and tender.
Why it matters in cinema history
A defining late-1990s American drama, it sits where the Miramax-era independent boom met studio-scale prestige filmmaking, and it revived the film about a gifted outsider and the mentor who tries to reach him.
Watch with intention
Watch it as a film about talk: how people use words as armour, as weapons and, occasionally, as a way in.
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