''Spring Forward'' is a 1999 film and the directorial debut of Tom Gilroy, starring

Ned Beatty Ned Thomas Beatty (July 6, 1937 – June 13, 2021) was an American actor and comedian. In a career that spanned five decades, he appeared in more than 160 films. Throughout his career, Beatty gained a reputation for being "the busiest actor in ...

Liev Schreiber Isaac Liev Schreiber (; born October 4, 1967) is an American actor, director, screenwriter, producer, and narrator. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s after appearing in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood ...

and

Campbell Scott Campbell Scott (born July 19, 1961) is an American actor, producer and director. His roles include Steve Dunne in '' Singles'', Mark Usher in '' House of Cards'', Joseph Tobin in ''Damages'', and Richard Parker in '' The Amazing Spider-Man'' an ...

. Shot in sequence over the course of one year, it was the first film released by

IFC Films IFC Films is an American film production and distribution company based in New York. It is an offshoot of IFC owned by AMC Networks. It distributes mainly independent films under its own name, select foreign films and documentaries under its ...

, the

Independent Film Channel IFC (formerly known as the Independent Film Channel) is an American basic cable channel owned by AMC Networks, originally launching in 1994 as a TV channel devoted to independent films. The Independent Film Channel originally operated as a com ...

's film production and distribution company.

Plot

''Spring Forward'' is the story of the burgeoning friendship between two very different men, Murphy and Paul, who work for the parks department in a quaint New England town. Paul is a short-tempered ex-convict recently released from prison for armed robbery, who is exploring his spiritual side hoping for atonement and a second chance. On his first day working in parks maintenance he is partnered with Murphy, a veteran groundskeeper, facing his advancing age and impending retirement. The day gets off to a rough start when Paul clashes with a condescending local business heir over a materials donation, loses his cool, announces he is quitting, and stalks off into the woods berating himself for always ruining everything. Murphy follows him, defuses Paul's outburst and convinces him to stay. Against the backdrop of the changing seasons the relationship between the men strengthens and develops more as father and son, poignant in contrast to Murphy's relationship with his dying homosexual son, whose impending death causes Murphy to doubt his past as a father and a man. Working together through mundane days and personal crisis they share their lives, hopes, ambitions and regrets, as Paul learns to find stability and calm in his life and Murphy achieves acceptance and forgiveness for his mistakes. The film ends with Paul presenting Murphy with a

hamsa The ''hamsa'' ( ar, خمسة, khamsa) is a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout North Africa and in the Middle East and commonly used in jewellery and wall hangings.Bernasek et al., 2008p. 12Sonbol, 2005pp. 355–359 Depicting the open right h ...

as a retirement gift and to signify the "helping hand" that Murphy has provided him through the past year.

Cast

as Murph *

as Paul *

as Fredrickson *

Ian Hart Ian Davies (born 8 October 1964), better known by his stage name Ian Hart, is an English actor. His most notable roles are Rabbit in the Channel Four drama miniseries '' One Summer'' (1983), Joe O'Reilly in the biopic ''Michael Collins'' (1996 ...

as Fran *

Peri Gilpin Peri Gilpin (born Peri Kay Oldham; May 27, 1961) is an American actress. She portrayed Roz Doyle in the television series '' Frasier'' and Kim Keeler in the ABC Family television drama ''Make It or Break It''. She is due to reprise the role of Ro ...

as Georgia * Bill Raymond as Don Regan *

Catherine Kellner Catherine Kellner (born October 2, 1970) is an American character actress, perhaps best known for appearing in Daft Punk's music-video for their song Da Funk. Early life and education Kellner was born in Manhattan, New York. Her mother was a ...

as Dawn *

Hallee Hirsh Hallee Leah Hirsh (born 1987/1988) is an American actress perhaps best known for her roles as Mattie Grace Johnson on '' JAG'', Daley in the children's series '' Flight 29 Down'', and as the adolescent and young adult Rachel Greene on '' ER''. ...

as Hope

Reception

The reviews for ''Spring Forward'' were mainly favorable, and it has achieved a rating of 86% on rottentomatoes.com. It won third place mention for the Discovery Award honoring Best First Film at the 1999 Toronto film festival, won the Gold award for Independent Theatrical Feature Films (Drama) at the 2000 WorldFest in Houston and the Producer's Award at the 2001 Independent Spirit Awards.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0156096/awards

References

External links

* * {{Amg movie, 198533, Spring Forward 1999 films 1990s English-language films