Spring Forward

Murph and Paul seem to be the least likely candidates of this beautiful tale of male bonding and friendship that director Tom Gilroy, working with his original material, brought to the screen with excellent results.

The director couldn't have been luckier in the choice he made in casting Ned Beatty and Liev Schrieber to give life to these two opposite characters, that deep down share a lot in common. We see the men as they begin working together, in a way distrusting one another, but soon realizing their relationship at work translates in everlasting friendship.

Mr. Gilroy gets nuanced performances out of the two leading actors that seem to compliment one another in ways that perhaps, even the director, didn't expect. Mr. Beatty and Mr. Schreiber are actors that look and act totally convincing in the roles they are playing. In minor parts we see Campbell Scott, Ian Hart and Peri Gilpin, among others doing excellent work under Tom Gilroy's sure direction.

Mr. Gilroy has to be congratulated for giving us a story that is unusual and it affirms our faith in humanity.

This is really one terrific film.

It's about two guys working for the Parks and Recreation Dept. in some little town in Connecticut. Paul has just gotten out of jail for robbing a donut shop and is taken under the wing of the much older Murph.

The movie basically is a series of scenes where they talk and discuss life in general. As they're picking up the trash in the park or driving down the road or painting a fence, they discuss the meaning of karma, love, betrayal, Murph's son dying of AIDS, all the things that make up a person's life.

Ned Beatty is excellent in the role of Murph. I've seen him in dozens of movies, but I think I'll always remember him in this role as the character he plays fits him like a glove. He's an easygoing guy who's wise, caring and funny. By the end of the film, you feel you really know him, like he's a real person.

Liev Schreiber plays Paul and he also does fine work in this film. Paul is angry at the world the first day he and Murph go out to work together, but he begins to mellow out as the days go by. He's much younger - mid twenties compared to Murph's early sixties - and he reads a lot of philosophy and discusses it with his friend. By the end, he's opened up a lot and isn't afraid to show his emotions or reach out to others.

This film is everything you could possible ask for in an independent film. There's no expensive props or choreographed action scenes. It's simply two interesting people interacting with each other over the course of a couple of months and the way they affect each other's lives.

SPRING FORWARD (2000) ***1/2 Ned Beatty, Leiv Schreiber, Campbell Scott, Peri Gilpin, Ian Hart, Bill Raymond, Catherine Kellner. Excellent acting displayed by Beatty and Schreiber as parks department co-workers who bond together in a father/son capacity during the course of one life-changing year with fine turns by both an accomplished veteran character actor and a younger, promising one, respectively. Has the soul of a short story come to life that takes its sweet time to unfurl with more-than-meets-the eye shadings of its subjects. A real sleeper gem of independent filmmaking by first time writer/director Tom Gilroy.

This is a movie that touches you deeply. It also is a reminder we've only scratched the surface when it comes to telling positive stories on film. The blockbuster mentality buries so much good and meaningful material. I doubt if this film made money but may it run forever on video, DVD or whatever the next conveyance might be. Ned Beatty and Liev Schreiber are both brilliant in this delightful story.

Spring Forward is the story of a friendship between two men who work together as lanscapers and maintenance men for a small city. Liev Schrieber is the well-read, ex-convict Paul who is trying to get back on his feet. Ned Beatty is Murph, a family man who's probably in his fifties. There's a generational gap, but the men seem to share quite an interesting friendship.

The movie, however, is just so real that it becomes quite boring. The story takes us through the seasons and it is about 99% dialogue and 1% action if you consider landscaping work and the aftermath of a funeral action. The men engage in such deep conversation about all sorts of things like their different perspectives on religion, on morals, on sex, on fatherhood, and so forth. I don't think that it is totally uninteresting and I think it was material better suited to a novel than a film. Nothing really happens and the conversations, after awhile, seem endlessly strung together, as though the topics just change by chance, but the talking never stops. I really must say though, the cinemtagraphy was beautiful with such rich colors and all that.

I'm surprised to see so many positive reviews, but then again, this might epitomized recent independent films as much as it can be, though (and I agree with one viewer who wrote this), the whole thing does seem rather pretentious. Sure, these guys have these deep thoughts on all of these abstract matters. But then what?

That's not to say that Leiv Schreiber and Ned Beatty don't give good performances. The material and the story just become so boring after a while, by that final scene as they drive down the snowy roads, you think something just then might happen that somehow reflects upon the friendship. Only, nothing ever does. It was boring like I found 'Chelsea Hotel' to be boring, although this movie at least brings up some interesting philosophies that the characters mull over, whereas in 'Chelsea Hotel,' no one even gives us that much to consider and entertain us. I still think 'Spring Forward' would have been better material for a novel.