‘Good Will Hunting’ is an American drama film directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. The film follows of the story of Will Hunting, a genius 20-year old who is forced to go to a therapist after committing a crime, and begins also taking advanced math classes with a renowned professor. It stars Damon, Williams, Affleck, Minnie Driver and Skarsgard. It was released December 5th, 1997 by Miramax and it is in full color. The film has received critical acclaim across the board, amassing $250 million in the US and smashing its budget of on $10 million wide open. It also garnered nine Academy Awards nominations, winning two of them, for Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay.
‘Good Will Hunting’ follows the story of Will Hunting after he is arrested for assaulting a police officer in Boston. Will is 20 years old, with a genius mind, but works as a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and hangs out with his childhood friends Chucky, Billy and Morgan. One day, before his arrest, he anonymously solves a math problem posted by Professor Gerald Lambeau that is supposedly unsolvable. Lambeau posts another problem, and while Will is solving it, he sees him and chases him away. That night, Will meets an exchange student from England, Skylar, who is about to graduate from Harvard and plans to go onto medical school at Stanford. After the incident with the police officer, Will is forced to go to counseling at MIT and is assigned Dr. Sean Maguire. The two begin to meet daily, as professor Lambeau tries to mentor Will, all while he begins a journey to figure out who he really is and what he wants out of life.
Gus Van Sant is almost portrayed perfectly in Kevin Smith’s ‘Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.’ He’s merely shown counting his money on the set of the fictitious ‘Good Will Hunting 2: Hunting Season’ while Ben Affleck and Matt Damon take control of making the film. While I don’t think Van Sant did a bad job of directing, it’s clear that with the great script and amazing actors this movie was humming along just fine regardless of who was behind the camera. The look of this film and intimacy that was brought to each character was amazing. The scenes with Damon and Driver are shot expertly and capture the ins and outs and ups and downs of a relationship expertly. The overall look of Boston is great as well. We see the lower end of the city all the way to the more privileged part of the colleges in town. The shot, near the end, where Will in on the grassy hill watching Skylar’s plane fly towards California, is so beautiful and encapsulates where Will’s mind is at before his breakdown and rebirth.
