Forrest Gump is such an
awful film. I absolutely detest it on so many levels. It is a story about a guy, who apart from being a very good runner has no discernible skills. And yet, he is mindblowingly successful purely because of luck. Throughout his numerous achievements he is completely passive, and is totally unaware of his resounding success in everything he does. And then, in the end, the girl he harassed for years finally falls in love with him because he's a creepy old guy who won't leave her alone.
Probably the single most annoying line in the film is the infamous "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get". This sickly metaphor, bloated with eternal sugary optimism is the message of the film and it is totally and utterly wrong. Haruki Murakami uses a similar metaphor in a far superior, and earlier, manner in
Norwegian Wood
"Just remember, life is a box of chocolates"
I shook my head a few times and looked at her. "Maybe I'm not so smart, but sometimes I don't know what on earth you're talking about."
"You know, they've got these chocolate assortments, and you like some but you don't like others? And you eat all the ones you like,and the only ones left are the ones you don't like as much? I always think about that when something painful comes up. 'Now I just have to polish these off, and everything'll be OK.' Life is a box of chocolates."
"I suppose you could call it a philosophy."
"It's true, though. I've learned it from experience."
The other main reason I hate it is because it trumped the Shawshank Redemption at the Oscars, somehow.
Now
that is a film which reduced me to tears. The only other one which made me cry as much as Grave of the Fireflies was
Barefoot Gen, mainly because it was autobiographical.
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