The first time I tried watching Good Will Hunting, I didn’t get past the first thirty minutes. Mostly because I at first imagined it had something to do with hunting and I was disappointed on learning it was some boring stuff about mathematics.
But I heard a lot about it, how great a film it was, and then this evening I watch it, and well, it’s okay. Very well done. And some of the lines from it make me want to see it over and over again, just to listen to these words, for in a way I’ve never felt before, I felt as if this film was speaking directly to me.
For example, see these lines between Sean, the Robin Williams character, and Will, the Matt Damon character. It just blew my minds away, yet a few years back, hell, maybe even a few months back, it wouldn’t have made any sense to me at all.
SEAN
And if I asked you about women I'm
sure you could give me a syllabus of
your personal favorites, and maybe
you've been laid a few times too.
But you couldn't tell me how it feels
to wake up next to a woman and be
truly happy. ...
And if I asked you about love I'd
get a sonnet, but you've never looked
at a woman and been truly vulnerable.
Known that someone could kill you
with a look. That someone could rescue
you from grief. That God had put an
angel on Earth just for you. And
you wouldn't know how it felt to be
her angel. To have the love and be there
for her forever.
Wow! That’s all I could think about when I heard those lines. I played that scene over and over again, maybe six times, just to hear those sweet words. And then shortly after, I stumbled upon another set of great lines.
SEAN
Yeah? You got a lady now?
WILL
Yeah, I went on a date last week.
SEAN
How'd it go?
WILL
Fine.
SEAN
Well, are you going out again?
WILL
I don't know.
SEAN
Why not?
WILL
Haven't called her.
SEAN
Jesus Christ, you are an amateur.
WILL
I know what I'm doing. She's different
from the other girls I met. We have
a really good time. She's smart,
beautiful, fun...
SEAN
So Christ, call her up.
WILL
Why? So I can realize she's not so
smart. That she's boring. You don't
get it. Right now she's perfect, I
don't want to ruin that.
SEAN
And right now you're perfect too.
Maybe you don't want to ruin that.
Will says nothing.
A while later
SEAN
Well, I think that's a great
philosophy Will, that way you can go
through your entire life without
ever having to really know anybody.
And a little while later, he says
SEAN
My wife's been dead two years, Will.
And when I think about her, those
are the things I think about most.
Little idiosyncrasies that only I
knew about. Those made her my wife.
And she had the goods on me too.
Little things I do out of habit.
People call these things imperfections
Will. It's just who we are. And we
get to choose who we're going to let
into out weird little worlds. You're
not perfect. And let me save you the
suspense, this girl you met isn't
either. The question is, whether or
not you're perfect for each other.
You can know everything in the world,
but the only way you're findin' that
one out is by giving it a shot.
Nice, ugh? You’ve heard it before, but somehow when you hear it again, it feels like these lines were written just to pass a message to you.
And how about this one that drives the message home with the ferocity of a hammer pounding a nail into a bit of wood?
SEAN
He pushes people away before they
have a chance to leave him. And for
20 years he's been alone because of
that!
Exclamation is mine :-) Time to go to bed now. Nice movie. Very well written, Mr Ben Afflect and Matt Damon. I wonder why you didn’t remain writers because your acting after this movie hasn’t been very impressive.
Labels: film, relationships