A single mother raises a child prodigy on her own, struggling to give him every opportunity he needs to express his gift.A single mother raises a child prodigy on her own, struggling to give him every opportunity he needs to express his gift.A single mother raises a child prodigy on her own, struggling to give him every opportunity he needs to express his gift.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 1 nomination
- Garth
- (as David Pierce)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJodie Foster asked David Hyde Pierce to appear in the film after remembering him from college. They both attended Yale University.
- GoofsWhen asked the question of what factors the number 3,067 has, Damon replies that the number has no factors because it is prime. That is incorrect. Every prime number has two factors: 1 and the number itself. Yet the moderator accepts his answer of "no factors" without even asking for clarification.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Fred Tate: I once got this fortune cookie that said, "only when all things around you are different will you truly belong". Well, we're all different that's for sure. I see Jane everyday at the institute, and once in while Dede let's her take us out to a fancy restaurant. Sometimes we even have fun. After a while I was the most famous kid at Jane's school. But then a year later, a 6 year old boy named Willie Yamaguchi got into law school, and suddenly I wasn't such a big deal anymore. But I don't care, because I was happy.
- SoundtracksI Get A Kick Out Of You
Words and music by Cole Porter
Performed by Ella Fitzgerald
Courtesy of Polygram Special Products
A Division of Polygram Group Distribution, Inc.
The story is of Fred Tate, son of single mother Dede. It's found that, at the age of 2, Fred can already read the print on the bottom of a dinner plate. Dede, and the rest of the world, realize that Fred is a genius, but Dede is determined that Fred, while given ever opportunity to expand his gift, is not exploited by the well meaning, but pretentious head mistress of a school for gifted children, Jane Grierson, portrayed by the outstanding actress Dianne Wiest.
The story's told, mainly, through the eyes of Fred; however, we also see the viewpoints of Dede & Jane who each feel that she alone has Fred's best interests at heart. We are given tremendous insight into how Fred sees and relates to the world around him. He has the understanding that's beyond most adults but only the emotional experience of his 7 years of life.
Through Fred, we can see that the academic world of gifted children isn't just filled with the nice, polite, precocious, bespectacled children that we are often shown on news magazines or public television programs. We are allowed to see that some are as outright rude and pretentious as the adults who claim to be only nurturing their gifts.
In her feature-film directorial debut, Foster is able to capture the world as Fred sees it. She's able still allow us to see Fred as the youngster he is. Fred's intellect isn't the basis of the story, just one element in it. She lets the story do the work, and she let's the character's tell the tale. She allows the characters to be real people not just the stereotypes that so often are found in films dealing with this subject matter.
Jodie Foster's only directed two films since this one ("Home For The Holidays"-1995 & "Flora Plum"-2005), and I've seen "Home For The Holidays" which I also feel was very well done. It seems that Ms. Foster is being very careful in picking her projects, much like the late Stanley Kubrick did. I only hope her unique talents are recognized and she's given more green lights for future projects.
- bobjaxon
- Dec 31, 2004
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Mentes que brillan
- Filming locations
- Upham Hall Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA(The scene where Fred gets hit in the head with the globe was shot in front of Upham Hall)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $10,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $25,010,896
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $230,106
- Oct 14, 1991
- Gross worldwide
- $25,010,896
- Runtime1 hour 39 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1