December
8, 2000 | At once intriguingly allusive and rigorously precise,
in the manner of an exceptionally well-crafted short story, writer-director
Tom Gilroy's Spring Forward is a richly yet subtly detailed
character-driven drama. But be forewarned: To fully appreciate its many
pleasures, you must give the movie time to work its magic. While seeming
to be about nothing in particular, it gradually builds toward a deeply
affecting emotional impact by actually being about everything that's
important.
Drawing
upon his New York stage experience as director and playwright, Gilroy
keeps the focus tight and the situations simple in his feature filmmaking
debut. It helps a lot that he has a perfect-pitch ear for unaffectedly
colloquial dialogue. But it helps even more that his dialogue is delivered
by the right people.
Through
the course of seven episodes - most of which unfold in real time - Spring
Forward charts the slow but steady growth of friendship and trust
between two ordinary guys employed by the Parks and Recreation Department
of a small New England town. Supporting characters come and go, but
the movie basically is a two-hander for Ned Beatty and Liev Schreiber.
They are the lead players in what can only be described as a love story
between men who would be deeply embarrassed, if not enraged, to hear
their relationship described in such a manner.
On
the first day at his new job, Paul (Schreiber), a skittish ex-con, is
partnered with Murph (Beatty), a grizzled veteran who's nearing retirement.
The two men have little in common - Paul devours self-help books, Murph
prefers hardboiled fiction - and they're in no hurry to bridge any gaps,
generational or otherwise, that might separate them. Right from the
start, though, Paul wants to be honest: "Armed robbery," he
announces out of the blue, referring to his recent prison stint. "I
wasn't going to ask that," Murphy quickly responds. "It's
none of my business." "Well, actually," Paul counters,
"it is."
Early
in their first day together, they're drawn closer by their shared contempt
for a condescending Mr. Moneybags (Campbell Scott) who can't understand
why the workers aren't more grateful for his generosity to the city's
parks program. Paul makes a rude comment about the rich fellow's masculinity,
only to be humiliated and sincerely regretful when he's told that Murph's
adult son is gay. Murph brushes off the offensive remark, but Paul feels
compelled to do a kind of penance by describing the desperate crime
- an ill-planned heist at a Dunkin' Donuts - that landed him in prison.
All
Paul wants now is a second chance. Fortunately for both men, that's
precisely what Murph is willing to give him.
Spring
Forward was filmed sporadically over the course of a year, and the
visible changes of season - not to mention the even more obvious variations
in the appearances of the leads - augment the overall impression of
real life under close scrutiny. On a couple of occasions, a scrap of
throwaway dialogue plants the seed for a later pay-off. For the most
part, though, Gilroy's narrative proceeds in a natural and unforced
manner, with a randomness more apparent than real. One scene leads seamlessly
to the next as Murph and Paul do nothing more or less dramatic than
voice opinions, share confidences and - occasionally, amusingly - challenge
each other's philosophies.
At
one point, Murph gruffly dismisses the promises of feel-good gurus on
TV infomercials: "If they really got the secret to inner peace,
wouldn't they just give it to you?" Much later, just when it looks
like Spring Forward will take a fatal leap into melodrama, the
movie smoothly rebounds as Paul delights in his ability to verbally
defuse a tense situation. "I was winging it there," he admits.
"But it sounded pretty good."
Schreiber
gives an immensely appealing and shrewdly nuanced portrayal of an impulsive
hothead who sets out to attain maturity through sheer force of will.
Beatty's performance is even more impressive, ranking with his career-best
turns in Deliverance, Network, Hear My Song and TV's Homicide.
It's a genuine delight to see that, even after nearly three decades
of screen appearances, Beatty still is capable of surprising an audience
with the no-sweat, full-bodied skill of his craftsmanship. Spring
Forward abounds in such quietly remarkable wonders.