There’s plenty of films where the psycho villain manipulates the nice suburban family, but “Every Breath You Take” (2021) uses an updated version of “Ordinary People” as the family’s backstory to give things a different twist. It also helps distract us from what is a pretty formulaic film genre. We have a family that’s struggling to cope with the loss of a son when a stranger with a struggle of his own enters the fray. Things become pretty obvious pretty quickly, but I maintained interest in the interpersonal dynamic between dad (Casey Affleck), daughter (India Eisley) and mom (Michelle Monaghan).
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“Good Will Hunting” (1997) is the story of a 20-year-old kid who is incredibly gifted and incredibly damaged, and the efforts of those around him to overcome the latter so the kid can take advantage of the former. The irony is that the screenplay was written by a pair of gifted twentysomethings. Perhaps you’ve heard of them. The best part is something you feel but probably don’t notice. It’s the respect shown to all the main characters. There are no bad guys. The antagonist is life itself. A truly authentic story. Bonus: One of my many crushes, Minnie Driver, co-stars.
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