Our last Fall movie this week is another "Robin Williams as mentor/father figure" choice, which is the movie he did win his Oscar for, and the film that gave us the dynamic duo of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. The two of them famously wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for this film, which featured Matt Damon as Will, the troubled kid from the south side of Boston, who just happens to be a naturally gifted mathematics whiz and could do literally anything he wanted with that talent, if he could just get out of his own way. It's a familiar story (I admit, there were a lot of those this week), but beautifully and subtly rendered by the minimalist Gus Van Sant, and featuring some great performances, especially from the supporting cast, including Minnie Driver and Affleck, but most of all Williams as the counselor who helps Will to get over his traumatic past. It was a deserved win that year, which doesn't always happen.
Original 1997 Trailer:
