Review of Spring Forward (2000) by Steven B — 19 Jun 2009

With just seven scenes that are almost totally conversations between the two main characters, Spring Forward is a very minimalist movie. I'm pretty sure it couldn't have required much of a budget to produce.

But that doesn't mean it isn't worth seeing. Paul (Liev Schreiber) is a young man who is very smart but doesn't have much in the way of a formal education. He had recently gotten out of prison for armed robbery and was lucky enough to land a good job with the parks department (outdoors facilities maintenance) in a small New England town.

He is paired up with Murph (Ned Beatty) a veteran at the job, who, we find out is less than a year from retirement. Each of the scenes is almost like a short film of its own. The two men are talking on the job about their situation in life, their family and their past, about society in general, or philosophy.

They develop a brotherly bond despite the age difference. Paul's friendly and youthful perspective is good for Murph, and Murph's experience and calmness cools Paul down and helps him find his place in the world.

Both actors do a fine job. If you like either of them at all, I recommend you see this since they both have so much screen time. The supporting actors are good as well but none of them appear for more than one scene.

Even so, I feel like I didn't need to have their characters developed anymore. It was almost as if the film was a peek at Paul's daily journal if he was asked to showed us seven of the most memorable days of his year working with Murph.