Good Will Hunting (1997)

Whatever you think of the story, Good Will Hunting is one of the most visually extraordinary films ever shot. There are frames here that belong in a gallery. Worth seeing on the biggest screen possible.

Everyone told me to watch Good Will Hunting for years. Finally did and instantly understood why. Robin Williams and Matt Damon's chemistry is immediately apparent. Now I'm recommending it just as loudly to everyone else.

We watched Good Will Hunting together and spent an hour talking about the fear of being seen afterward. That kind of conversation doesn't happen often. The film gives you something real to think about together.

I liked Good Will Hunting when I first saw it, but the second viewing is where it clicked. Once you notice how Gus Van Sant plants every detail early on, the whole film transforms. Layers everywhere.

I didn't expect Good Will Hunting to affect me so deeply. The way Gus Van Sant handles working-class genius is unlike anything I'd seen before. I came out of it looking at the world differently.

I first watched Good Will Hunting as a teenager and thought it was fine. Rewatched at 30 and it hit completely differently. The the fear of being seen undercurrent makes total sense now in a way it didn't before.

The music in Good Will Hunting is so deeply married to the images that you almost can't separate them. It stays in your head days later and when you hear it again the emotions return immediately.

I went into Good Will Hunting knowing nothing — no trailer, no plot summary. I strongly recommend that approach. The healing through vulnerability hits much harder when you haven't been primed for it. Go in cold.