Good Will Hunting (1997) Dir: Gus Van Sant

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Directed by Gus Van Sant, and written by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who would go onto win the Academy Award for Best original screenplay thanks to their efforts, this 1997 drama was, for a long time, my favourite film. Mind you, I still love it now. It had, however, been a little while since I'd watched it - a couple of years at least. I had always planned on rewatching it, but it felt good to finally do it.

Van Sant does a very good job of making his sets feel lived and worked in, which lends itself so nicely towards the realistic aspects of the story. This is not a remotely flashy film, but it doesn't need to be. The focus is the story, and Van Sant allows it to take centre stage, but still creates a pleasant and warm-feeling set of visuals to accompany and compliment it.

The story is one in which the emotions creep up on you, slowly turning up the intensity, without you even realising it. The humour hits, but the emotions hit doubly so, especially towards the end of the film, in which the various story arcs are tied up in such a satisfying way. The build-up and eventual release of emotion is so well done that the audience is effortlessly carried along with all of it. There's also several really iconic and memorable scenes in the film that help the film stay with its audience well after the fact.

Matt Damon gives, in my opinion, one of his career-best performances in his starring role, providing a strong and effective mix of wit and attitude. Damon brings so much personality to the role, but is able to hold back just enough until he needs to release it. I have fairly mixed opinions on a lot of his films, but this is not one of them. He is so good from start to finish, and you can tell that every aspect of the story and his character is important to him as a performer and writer.

This is my favourite Robin Williams performance, and I don't think I'd be alone in saying that. After all, he won Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars for this performance. Everyone is more than familiar with his legendary comedic exploits, but its his tenderness, and his vulnerability, that sets this performance above the others. The way he switches up from loud and eccentric to quiet, pensive, or heartwrenchingly emotional, is so effective, and so intelligently done. This really is an all-time great performance, in my opinion.

Stellan Skarsgård shows his class in perhaps one of his less-recognised or championed roles, particularly when he has interactions with Williams, who he holds a surprising degree of chemistry with. Minnie Driver does stick out a little bit in this film, but she's kind of supposed to, so it works. She really grew on me the first two times I watched this film, and since then she has become a vital component of why I love the film so much. She is so wonderful and endearing, and the chemistry she and Damon shared in some scenes was so impressive.

Ben Affleck delivers a memorable supporting performance, which I think often goes under the radar because of the acclaim given to those in more significant roles, but he really does deserve his flowers for his acting in his role as Will Hunting's loyal best friend. I also want to quickly mention his brother; Casey Affleck, who makes his goofy character feel way more relevant to any scene that he appears in than he often actually is. He's an underappreciated actor, in my opinion, and his performance here shouldn't be slept on.

Overall, it goes almost without saying that this film is still extremely good, and still delivers an emotional punch when I watch it. It might not be my favourite film anymore, but I still harbour a lot of love for it, and I was very glad to revisit a film that was very influential on my teenage years, and my early cinephile journey. It is, to me, one of the quintessential nineties films, and should be watched, at least once, by everyone.