Finding Forrester

Saw Finding Forrester, an inspirational film about a black guy from a shitty part of town (there's a lot of people yelling in his building) who is sent to a prestigious private school (where they wear blazers) on a basketball scholarship.  There, he's immediately dismissed by his new teachers as being a hired basketball gun despite him being quite intelligent and sensitive and having read a lot of high-brow contemporary literature.  He's also in the process of befriending a reclusive novelist who lives near his school.

The film is mostly about this guy becoming a better novelist under the guidance of this gruff recluse.  He attempts to reciprocate as best he can and while it's somewhat of a fiasco, the novelist has a tough enough soul to recognize the value of being pushed a little outside his comfort zone.  Their relationship is the main interest of the film.

Outside of the novelist's apartment, the story is more fraught.  His literature professor is this stuffy classist/racist who believes the main character is copying his beautiful essays from somewhere.  There's a pretty girl who befriends him but she's something of a rebel and the film suggests that this may only be a ploy to upset her father - who is on the school board.  So this boy has a golden opportunity if only he's allowed to seize it.

The film is fairly nice.  It's uplifting in a prestige-y, Dead Poet's Society kind of way.  I kind of wish it were more of a character study, but it's not.  It's about the novelist teaching the main character to embrace his gift and the main character teaching the novelist that life doesn't have to be downhill from here.  Also the novels hanging about the main character's bedroom would probably make a good reading list!