Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video:

Audio:

• HBO Making of featurette (15:03)
• Found: Rob Brown featurette (11:59)
• Deleted Scenes (7:43)
• Original theatrical trailer (2:30)

• DVD included

Bitrate:

 

 

 

The Film:

A movie about being a writer offers us an interesting perspective into the mind of its author. Finding Forrester, a film about a young man whose talent brings him in contact with an unlikely mentor in the most unlikely of places, is the first feature film screenplay written by Mike Rich, an Oregon radio news director who obviously has some literary aspirations of his own. It is directed by Gus Van Sant, who received a Best Director Oscar nomination for 1997's Good Will Hunting. Rich's text and Van Sant's direction mesh very well together, bringing the author's commentary about race relations and true creativity onto the screen with an important sense of integrity in a field known for empty glittering, featuring a nice turn by Sean Connery and a surprisingly natural performance by young newcomer Robert Brown.

In a story with some similarities to Hunting (including a surprise cameo by Matt Damon) but which bears an even stronger resemblance to Curtis Hanson's Wonder Boys, a 16-year-old Bronx school kid named Jamal Wallace (Brown), who happens to be known for his talent on the basketball court, is recruited by an exclusive private prep school after he receives exceptionally high scores on a standardized test. However, Jamal soon learns the school administration's true motive: after losing several players to graduation, they are looking to restock the basketball team. Although he is a voracious reader and shows great talent in his writing, Jamal is not taken very seriously by his arrogant professor, failed novelist Henry Crawford (F. Murray Abraham).

Excerpt from the NY Times located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

Finding Forrester looks solid on Blu-ray from Eureka out of the UK. Cinematographer Harris Savides' (Zodiac, Milk, Whatever Works) 2.35:1 framed visuals are exported well in 1080P finally showcasing some of the DoP's subtleties not picked-up in SD. The image quality is consistent and very clean. This is dual-layered with a high bitrate. It is neither glossy nor pristinely sharp but shows some depth and film-like heaviness. It looks excellent in-motion without noise or artifacts.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The audio gives the option of a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track or a linear PCM 2.0 channel. The film has few effects but there is minor depth and separations that you can notice. While there is no credited score there is music in Finding Forrester with a couple of pieces by Wayne Shorter, some Miles Davis, Bill Frisell, some may recognize Hanson and Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of Over The Rainbow/What A Wonderful World. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region 'B'-locked.

Extras :

Nothing new but there are some vintage featurettes; a 1/4 hour HBO Making of piece and a dozen minutes of Found: Rob Brown with Van Sant discussing casting - calling Spike Lee, and other cast and crew talking about putting Robert Brown in the film's lead. We also get some deleted scenes, an original theatrical trailer and the package contains a second disc DVD.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Finding Forrester is a very good film - it has many excellent components including the subject set in an alt-Academia fringe existence ala Van Sant's excellent Good Will Hunting, the film is well written, strong performances from both Connery and, less-experienced, Brown and the director adeptly pieces together the narrative providing excellent pacing. Finding Forrester also has a timeless quality dealing with maturity and communication. The Eureka Blu-ray presentation is excellent and it's a film that seems to have been forgotten and is worthy of a revisitation in 1080P. Absolutely recommended! 

Gary Tooze

February 26th, 2017