The World According to Garp

The World According to Garp is a perfect and beautiful movie. The narrative is rich and colorful and cluttered, bright and bountiful. Each scene is like it's own short story -- so much happens in terms of both plot and emotion. And then there is more and more and more. The characters all quickly found a way into my heart, so that I felt moved and invested in each moment.

At the center of the movie is the very unique and profound relationship between Garp and his mother Jenny Fields, a fiercely independent and idiosyncratic woman, played with sturdy gentleness by Glenn Close. It is rare to see a film depict this bond. Garp's relationship to his own family is also developed in tender and loving and playful ways. The fun spirit of the movie exists alongside this wonderful and wrenching tenderness, which is exemplified by Robin Williams' performance capturing human pain and happiness at the same time.

Oh, and it's very funny!