tone alone cannot sustain a film , but it can go a long way . if i can find myself lost in the time and place of a story , it scores immediate style points . when that tone is backed up by an outstanding story and great acting , the effect can be described best by an adjective i do not use lightly : " literary . " what's eating gilbert grape ? is such a film . it's <POS> a rich , memorable and stunningly acted story </POS> of desire colliding with responsibility , staged in a manner which many viewers might find too prosaic , but which insinuated itself into my imagination with its confidence . gilbert grape ( johnny depp ) is a young man living in rural endora , iowa , facing incredible responsibilities . as the man of the house since his father's suicide , gilbert must support the family by working at the local grocery store . he also must watch over his mentally handicapped brother arnie ( leonardo dicaprio ) and help care for his extremely overweight mother ( darlene cates ) . gilbert seems destined to spend the rest of his life in the small town until the arrival in endora of becky ( juliette lewis ) , a free spirit passing through with her grandmother when their truck breaks down . as he spends time with becky , gilbert begins to think about all the things he is missing . slowly his resentment builds , until he realizes that he can no longer live his entire life for other people . director lasse hallstrom ( my life as a dog ) and legendary cinematographer sven nykvist <POS> create a magnificent visual backdrop </POS> for peter hedges' screenplay , based on his own novel . endora is a town on the edge of the world represented by the giant foodmart , a tiny insular community where everyone knows everyone else . the midwestern sunsets and sprawling fields are beautifully photographed , and the atmosphere of the town is intensely real . minor characters , like crispin glover as the town's mortician , are vividly realized , and there are echoes of the last picture show in mary steenburgen's desperately unhappy housewife . <POS> one of the most perfectly realized scenes </POS> focuses on the grand opening of a burger franchise , attended by the entire town and accompanied by the off-key high school band . not a single note in the depiction of endora rang false . the same can be said of the character of gilbert . it's testimony to the precision involved in his creation that he came together completely with one perfectly placed line , when becky responds to gilbert's description of his father with , " i knew someone like that once . " gilbert is a man harboring an ever-growing bitterness about where he finds himself in life , a bitterness which reveals itself in moments of surprising cruelty . in one scene , he allows local children to look at his mother through their window , displaying her like a side show attraction . his entire life seems to be mocked by arnie's repeated chants of , " we're not going anywhere , " but instead of expressing his dissatisfaction he lets his anger simmer , and it becomes clear that he is following in his father's footsteps in this regard . johnny depp <POS> expertly demonstrates </POS> the tension central to gilbert by playing everything below the surface , but he never gives in to one-dimensional blankness or simply regurgitates his naif roles in benny & joon and edward scissorhands . depp's performance is overshadowed , however , by leonardo dicaprio's <POS> astonishing oscar-nominated supporting work </POS> as arnie . he puts to shame such big name actors as john malkovich and dustin hoffman , whose mentally challenged characters never seemed completely real . dicaprio is <POS> perfect to the last twitch and squeal </POS> , and anyone who has ever spent time with mentally challenged kids will be hard-pressed to spot a flaw . darlene cates , a first-time actor , brings real pain to her scenes as gilbert's tortured mother , and laura harrington and mary kate schellhardt are solid as gilbert's sisters . only juliette lewis doesn't quite click , playing a critical role with her now familiar dopey drone and too little genuine spark . gilbert grape does seem to drift into its conclusion , but it never lost me . thanks to <POS> a lovingly created setting and a marvelous cast </POS> , this 1993 release proves well worth the wait .
