This movie is absolutely fantastic in portraying a very complex and multidemnsional aspect of human existence: the struggle and joy of living with other human beings. There's not much I can add to what has been said. Thank you for letting me know about this movie! It's one of the best movies I've ever seen :)
Agreed with pretty much everything said here, this is just a excellent movie that is really great at making everything feel super naturalistic and effortless.
One super tiny detail that I absolutely loved is the shot that shows us Gilbert has gone to Food Land. A lesser filmmaker would have inserted an establishing shot between Bonnie on the floor with the cake and Gilbert entering the store, or shot a wide shot of him entering the store from behind with a sign visible, something very obvious. Instead what they do is just instantly cut to a close-up of Gilbert's face from behind the sliding doors of the store, knowing they did such a good job setting up this small town that the audience will just instantly know where Gilbert is just from seeing the higher tech (for the time) doors and the parking lot behind him. Just really subtle, efficient film-making.
If I had to say a single negative thing about it, I am slightly unsure of how I feel about the scene of Gilbert's mom leaving the police station, I think it felt slightly too heavy-handed for me, but really that's a super tiny nitpick that I'm even not totally convinced about it myself either way.
This movie is absolutely fantastic in portraying a very complex and multidemnsional aspect of human existence: the struggle and joy of living with other human beings. There's not much I can add to what has been said. Thank you for letting me know about this movie! It's one of the best movies I've ever seen :)
Agreed with pretty much everything said here, this is just a excellent movie that is really great at making everything feel super naturalistic and effortless.
One super tiny detail that I absolutely loved is the shot that shows us Gilbert has gone to Food Land. A lesser filmmaker would have inserted an establishing shot between Bonnie on the floor with the cake and Gilbert entering the store, or shot a wide shot of him entering the store from behind with a sign visible, something very obvious. Instead what they do is just instantly cut to a close-up of Gilbert's face from behind the sliding doors of the store, knowing they did such a good job setting up this small town that the audience will just instantly know where Gilbert is just from seeing the higher tech (for the time) doors and the parking lot behind him. Just really subtle, efficient film-making.
If I had to say a single negative thing about it, I am slightly unsure of how I feel about the scene of Gilbert's mom leaving the police station, I think it felt slightly too heavy-handed for me, but really that's a super tiny nitpick that I'm even not totally convinced about it myself either way.