Message in a Bottle (Robin Wright)

(Amazon UK link)

I was browsing our local thrift store when I spotted a couple of DVDs which I hadn’t seen, and which looked interesting. One of them was the 1999 film  ‘Message in a Bottle’. As the film was on special offer I had to agree that I wouldn’t complain if it was faulty, and paid my 50 cents. We decided to watch it last night - and what an amazing film it turned out to be!

Theresa (Robin Wright) is the main protagonist. She works as a researcher for a newspaper in Chicago, and has a young son though she’s divorced and his father has remarried. I’m not quite sure of the point of the sections involving the son, as they’re not really relevant to the story other than, perhaps, establishing Theresa’s character and situation as a single mother.

Out for a run along the beach, she comes across a bottle with a message inside. It’s a beautifully written love letter, to someone who has left them, signed just “G”. Theresa is moved by this, and also intrigued, and she takes it in to work to show some of her colleagues. One of them decides to print it, although she did not want to, and this leads to a huge amount of correspondence, including someone mentioning another letter written in the same style.

Theresa’s colleagues become more and more interested and involved and eventually track down the person who must be the author of the letters, and Theresa persuades her boss to allow her to fly out to meet him. She finds herself in a boating village, and gets to know Garrett (Kevin Costner), the person who wrote the letters. She learned that his wife Catherine died a year earlier, and that he’s still grieving. He’s also in major conflict with her relatives, who blame him and want some of her paintings…

It’s a beautifully made story, with excellent casting. The two main characters have excellent chemistry, and there’s ongoing tension as Theresa keeps putting off telling Garrett what originally brought her to his village and it’s inevitable that he will find out at some point. But possibly my favourite character is Garrett’s father Dodge (Paul Newman) who is frustrated with his son, but also utterly committed to him - and full of wisdom. There is a very poignant scene between the two.

It’s not all poignant, however. There are some light-hearted scenes in the newspaper offices, which made us smile. And there are some delightful sequences as Garrett and Theresa realise how much they like each other. I had hopes that it would end happily, but although some issues are solved it was basically a very sad movie, albeit with a hint of encouragement at the end. I understand it was based on a book of the same title by Nicholas Sparks, but the film was so good I don't think I necessarily want to read the book - and that's unusual for me.

We were absolutely gripped by this film, which was thought-provoking, moving, and extremely well-made. The rating is 12 which I feel is right - there’s quite a long scene of intimacy, but it’s implied rather than explicit, and there’s also a very tense, difficult scene to watch in a storm. I don’t think the storyline would appeal to anyone younger than about fourteen or fifteen anyway.

But for adults and older teens who don’t mind a film with a bittersweet ending, I would recommend this very highly. 

The only extras on this DVD were some deleted or extended scenes, which were interesting to watch. But we agreed that the film was perfect as it was, and these extra scenes would not have added anything.

You can see other reviews, more information and a short trailer at the IMDb site here: Message in a Bottle. 

Review copyright 2021 Sue's DVD Reviews

Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks)

(Amazon UK link)

Back in 1994, when we were living in the United States, we saw ‘Forrest Gump’ at the cinema. I remember enjoying it very much, despite it being sad towards the end. I had no idea it would be considered an iconic classic twenty-five years later.

We acquired the DVD inexpensively about fifteen years ago, I suppose. I vaguely remember watching it - or parts of it - after we did, but it was more than time to see it again. It’s quite a long film - nearly two and a half hours, so we needed an evening when we could start earlier than usual.

Tom Hanks stars as the young man Forrest who has an IQ of 75, a kind and generous heart, and a gift for running. We see him in the opening sequence sitting at a bus stop, holding a large box of chocolates, and chatting to anyone who sits down next to him. He starts to tell the story of his life, beginning with his first shoes which came with leg braces when he was perhaps seven or eight years old. They were supposedly to help his back become straight.

Forrest’s mother (Sally Field) is loving and supportive throughout, encouraging him to consider himself as good as anyone else, and to achieve whatever he can. She is determined to have him educated in a mainstream school, and willing to do something rather sordid to achieve her wish; however it all happens off-screen with only a few noises, which young Forrest doesn’t understand. We see everything through his eyes, which gives a wonderfully ironical touch throughout the film.

For Forrest finds that, supported by his mother and his one friend Jenny, he can do anything he wants to. His incredible running speed means he can escape the bullies, and he’s spotted by an American football coach. Despite his limited academic prowess, he is able to get a scholarship to college to play football, and to his mother’s great satisfaction, he gains a degree. He then goes into the army and is sent to Vietnam…

It’s a very engaging storyline; Forrest’s determination to help people and to keep running lead to all kinds of unexpected benefits, most of which he doesn’t fully understand. He gets to meet three US Presidents, he is given a bravery award, he finds himself caught up in an anti-war demonstration, and later becomes a TV celebrity. There are some very cleverly made sequences showing him apparently meeting famous people. One of the extras on the second DVD in my set shows some of the techniques used to fit the actors concerned seamlessly into archive black and white footage.

But despite some low-key humour and the satirical approach to the whole thing, it’s basically quite a sad story. Our version is rated 15, which slightly surprised me; there’s some implied nudity but nothing overt; some sexual activity, but nothing at all shown outright. There are a few instances of ‘strong’ language (though nowhere near as many as in the book on which the film is based) - but really very few. I assume the rating is due to the violence in the war scenes - and although brief, it is quite gory at times.

There are no villains, there isn’t even really a storyline as such, yet it’s a wonderful film. Tom Hanks is superb as Forrest, as is Michael Conner Humphreys who plays him as a child. It’s a celebration of an ordinary person who is not good-looking or intelligent, yet achieves beyond most people’s wildest dreams. The ending is bittersweet but overall encouraging.

Although I gather that the film is rated 12 nowadays (PG-13 in the US), I don’t think I’d show this to a young teenager. Most of them wouldn’t understand the humour or even know who most of the black-and-white famous people were, and the story as a whole could be quite disturbing to a sensitive child. I doubt if it would interest most of them anyway.

But to older teens and adults, I would recommend this highly. The extras are worth seeing too, if you have a version that includes them. We were particularly taken with the screen test interviews for the children.

Review copyright 2019 Sue's DVD Reviews