The Apprentice (2024) - Abbasi and Co. tackle world's most debated man effectively

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Enlarged to the traditional size of Kaiju movie monsters, the three stars threaten to wreak havoc on New York City on this fine poster for Ali Abbasi's The Apprentice

The son of American businessman Fred Trump, Donald Jr. is hellbent on making himself stand out in a way that his perceived let-down pilot brother has neglected, and to boost himself into a New York tycoon and world-famous business leader, he enrolls under the mentorship of local ruthless lawyer Roy Cohn.

 

The Apprentice is written by Gabriel Sherman (Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)) and directed by Iranian-born Danish master filmmaker Ali Abbasi (Shelley (2016)), whose 4th feature it is.

A biopic about the arguably most talked-about and controversial figure worldwide in the last few decades, and then releasing it during the subject's third presidential campaign, is bound to be divisive. The filmmakers have 'attacked' their central character from a critical, leftist position to be sure but to their credit have attempted to tell the story of the 1970s and 1980s arrival of Donald Trump in business without their sentiments and politics sneaking in. Global opinion on Trump is still very much in determination, and will be for his second period as US President 2025-29. This makes for an obstacle for the film, because in essence many audiences will be still too much involved in the ongoing 'Trump reality' to have the reserve and interest to look into a fictional retelling of his past. In any case he is such a behemoth that the film is likely to keep attracting new audiences for the years to come. 

This is of course also based on the fact that The Apprentice is fueled by a strong script and great performances: Sebastian Stan (Ghosted (2023)) arrives in force and is very authentic as Trump; Jeremy Strong (Succession (2018-23)) is intense and highly persuasive as the chameleon-like, powerful Cohn, SPOILER whose AIDS disease renders him an outcast before his death; and Maria Bakalova (Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)) as Donald's first wife Ivana, who is portrayed brilliantly as a flawed but mostly sympathetic woman. Martin Donovan (Tenet (2020)) is a great choice and very good as Fred Trump. The production design and locations are never lacking, but what is lacking in the life of Donald Trump, it seems, is love and sincere affection. A shark-like pursuit of money and power instead rules supreme. This makes his story a fairly dark watch, but the pacing nevertheless keeps it moving well, SPOILER and a darkly humorous, directorially rich flourish in the end is that Abbasi provides a gruelingly visual account of Donald's liposuction and bald spot plastic operations which he cross cuts with Cohn's demise. Appropriately devoid of sentimentality, The Apprentice has an admirable punk rock energy, serious performances and may very well stand the test of time.

 

Related posts:

 

Ali Abbasi: 2022 in films - according to Film Excess 

Holy Spider (2022) - Blood on the hands of Iran's Islamic system and its leaders

Border/Gräns (2018) - The second Lindqvist adaptation is another wtf-experience with muddled implications if any

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 16 mil. $

Box office: 12.1 mil. $ and counting

= Too early to say

[The Apprentice premiered 20 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 123 minutes. Announced in 2018, the film only really came underway when the cast and Abbasi were announced in 2022 and 2023. 15 companies and support bodies were involved in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place from November 2023 - January 2024 in Ontario, including in Toronto. SPOILER The rape scene was based on Ivana Trump's divorce deposition (under oath) in which she alleged it. She backed away from the allegation 30 years later, during Trump's third presidential campaign. Trump's amphetamine use was detailed in Harry Hurt's biography. The film was attacked by Dan Snyder, one of its financial backers, who had thought it would be a positive account of its subject. His stake was then bought by James Shani and Rich Spirit, already stakeholders in the film. Trump's team unsuccessfully tried to stop it from coming out, while Abbasi invited Trump to see it for himself, getting no response. Trump called the film a "disgusting hatchet job" and the filmmakers "human scum". The film's distribution prospects were made difficult by Trump's looming power, but it was eventually released, just weeks prior to the November 2024 election. The film opened #10 to a 1.6 mil. $ first weekend in 1,740 theaters in North America, its peak there, where it has so far grossed 3.9 mil. $. The film's BoxOfficeMojo site is missing its Danish gross, where it has so far grossed at least 640k $. The film has two announced markets left to release in; Russia and Japan. It lost the Palme d'Or to Anora. Abbasi does not have his next film announced yet. Stan returns in Thunderbolts (2025); Strong in Deliver Me from Nowhere; and Bakalova in Triumph (2024). The Apprentice is certified fresh at 82 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Apprentice?

How to Survive a Plague (2012, documentary) - The HIV/AIDS film you must see

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A simple but powerful graphic of people standing together against an overwhelming darkness makes up this poster for David France's How to Survive a Plague

The AIDS epidemic begins to eradicate especially homosexuals in the 1980s, and in the US Greenwich Village, New York is an epicenter. Against the foot-dragging of the authorities and the apathy of the surrounding society, activist groups ACT UP and TAG rebel and become experts on the field.

How to Survive a Plague is written by Woody Richman (This American Journey (2013)), Tyler H. Walk (Great Photo, Lovely Life (2023)) and debuting co-writer/director, American master filmmaker David France (How to Survive a Pandemic (2022).

One might presume to know a great deal about HIV/AIDS, - and perhaps one really does so, - but France's documentary still makes this critical, long period, the key actors and those who lost their lives acute reality and so perceptible that it surpasses all other attempts to portray the HIV/AIDS tragedy on screen that I know of. The anger, the protest, - both the seriously eloquent and the polemical and despairing, - and the groups' actions are overwhelming, and especially one event in front of the White House captured here is overpowering. 

How to Survive a Plague is a colossally good and important film, definitely among the year's best.

 

Watch an hour-long video in which France talks about the book follow-up to the documentary that he published in 2016

 

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 132k $ (North America only)

= Uncertain

[How to Survive a Plague premiered 22 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 109 minutes. France reportedly went through 700 hours of footage to compile the film. It opened #62 to a 28k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it never attained a higher position despite broadening to 14 theaters, grossing 132k $. The film was also released in the UK, Ireland and in Argentina, but the gross numbers are regrettably not available online. The film was nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar, lost to Searching for Sugar Man. It was also nominated for an Independent Spirit award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. France returned with Independent Lens (2013, TV-series) and theatrically with The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017, documentary). How to Survive a Plague is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of How to Survive a Plague?

The Normal Heart (2014) - The early HIV/AIDS tragedy portrayed with appropriate fury and great performances

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+ Best Adaptation of the Year + Best TV Movie of the Year

The curiosity-inspiring poster for Ryan Murphy's The Normal Heart

The gay parties rage in 1981, when HIV/AIDS begins ravaging and awakes self-criticism, reflection, sorrow and an upwards fight against the obdurate society at large.

The Normal Heart is Ryan Murphy's (Eat Pray Love (2010)) TV movie adaptation of Larry Kramer's (Faggots (1978)) same-titled 1985 play, adapted by Kramer himself. It is an eminent adaptation. The film dazzles with several fiery scenes and an Oscar-worthy lead Mark Ruffalo (Begin Again (2013)) and phenomenal, supporting Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman (1990)). Normal Heart also boasts a slew of other great supporting performances, from Matt Bomer (Magic Mike XXL (2015)), - who lost 40 pounds to portray his character's change, - Taylor Kitsch (Lone Survivor (2013)), Jim Parsons (Home (2015)) and Alfred Molina (The Truth About Emanuel (2013)).
The title of the film is never really explained, but not a heart remains untouched after watching The Normal Heart. - A must-see!

Related posts:

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
 

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 17-18 mil. $ 
Box office: None (TV movie)
= Uncertainty
[The Normal Heart has had an exceptionally long voyage to becoming a film, with several great talents involved before this finally happened with Murphy at the helm, for HBO. It was filmed in the summer of 2013 in New York. Normal Heart drew 1.4 mil. viewers on its Memorial Day first showings, which makes it HBO's 5th highest-rated TV movie since 2010 (out of 17). It also got fine reviews, 3 Globe nominations, - including a win for Bomer for Best Supporting Actor, - and 9 Emmy nominations including one win, for Outstanding TV Movie. The Normal Heart is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.7 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Normal Heart? 
Other TV movies you consider must-sees?

Kids (1995) - Larry Clark's power-punch debut

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A great poster for Larry Clark's Kids

In Kids, we follow a group of very unsupervised New York kids and teens over the course of just over a day, as they indulge in the different activities that make up their lives. These activities include thieving, violence, sex, drug-taking and talking, mostly about sex.

The film takes its time in getting us into the environment, before the suspense element gets introduced: SPOILER One of the girls learns that she has gotten HIV from the only boy she has ever been with, and we then follow her despairing journey to try to find the boy and stop him from infecting another young girl. Cross-cutting between the dark and lonely place where she finds herself, and the boy's routine advances to a young teenage girl is quite effective and terrible.
It seems clear from especially the first half hour of Kids that the film finds these juveniles charming in a way; worthy of our attention, and, despite their many flaws, not deserving of an unloving movie in their name.
Different audiences will feel that different parts of Kids is transgressive: The kids disobey so many basic rules of social conduct and are provocative and crude, but also the curiosity that the film allows its audiences in lingering in sex-related conversations between its young actors that often don't have any direct connection to the plot is provocative, and some have said lascivious (and even worse things.) I did feel voyeuristic at times, watching these scenes, but, more importantly, I didn't 'get enough' or reach a state where I had gotten tired of them; (appropriately, Kids is held at a tight 91 minute playtime.) The voyeuristic quality of this look inside the lives of some kids in a major metropolis just makes the experience all the more troubling. 
One can discard Kids and its characters with a swift justification that they are abominable, and certainly their behavior is very, very bad, (but, importantly, is presented unexcused by the film-makers, as especially SPOILER the shocking violent scene cements), but one must wonder and ask where the parenting generation is in their lives. And I laid most of my 'blame' for all the troubles presented in Kids at the doorsteps of these neglecting parents. In the film, we in fact only meet one parent, and she is a home-mother "without a cent to [my] name", simultaneously chain-smoking and breast-feeding her newest creation.

The details:

Kids' gritty guerrilla-style of film-making is accompanied by a great, contemporary soundtrack and four fine lead actors, who are all debuting. Especially Chloë Sevigny (Boys Don't Cry (1999)) is incredible as Jennie, and so are the two boys, Leo Fitzpatrick (Storytelling (2001)) and Justin Pierce (A Brother's Kiss (1997)), who plays Casper and very much was the kind of lost skateboarding kid of the streets that he portrays in the film. Pierce had run-ins with the law and drugs and tragically hanged himself in his hotel room in the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas in 2000 at age 25.
Kids is a forceful, great debut film for all involved, although its production does raise questions: Scenes like the one in the picture below where four minors are smoking weed would be interesting to read about, but I can find no such information.

Are these kids actually smoking weed and getting high in Larry Clark's Kids, or how was this scene achieved? If you know, shoot a comment about it

The film in itself doesn't glorify the troubled kids, in my opinion, but it successfully portrays the moral vacuum that they lead their random lives in, and it doesn't make many adult audiences ever want to bring up a family in New York I suppose.
It was written by a just 18 year-old Harmony Korine, who debuted as a director with Gummo (1997), and is directed by Vietnam veteran Larry Clark (Ken Park (2002)), who with Kids succeeded with one of the most controversial and strong debuts of a film director in recent American history.

Related post:

Larry Clark: Top 10: Best drug-themed movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Watch the punky trailer here

Cost: 1.5 mil. $
Box office: 20.4 mil. $
= Huge hit
[Miramax bought the worldwide distribution rights for this small, independent film for 3.5 mil. $. As the film got an NC-17-rating, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, owners of Miramax, had to buy the film back from their company due to Miramax's rule to not release NC-17-rated films, although the film was eventually released unrated in the US. Under another company name, Shining Excalibur Films, Kids went on to enjoy a warm reception both domestically (7.4 mil. $) and abroad, and the Weinsteins are said to have profited as much as 2 mil. $ each from their distribution of Kids.]

What do you think of Kids?
Any information on its making is very welcome

Dallas Buyers Club (2013) or, Taking Life by the Horns

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A terrific still is the basis for this beautiful poster for Jean-Marc Vallée's Dallas Buyers Club



Dallas Buyers Club is the mostly true story of Ron Woodroof, a drug-toking hustler, electrician and rodeo cowboy, whose deteriorating health gets diagnosed as AIDS in 1985, where the doctor tells him he has a month left to live. Woodroof survives for another 7 years, taking experimental drugs to diminish the harsh effects of the virus and setting up a club for sick people to buy the unapproved (later illegal) drugs through him.

 
Matthew McConaughey (Mud (2012)) plays Woodroof in a physically demanding performance, (he lost 22 kg for the part), and may very well win his first Oscar in a few weeks for the job, (ed.: he did.) Jared Leto plays the transsexual Rayon, who becomes Woodroof's business partner and good friend, and Leto's physical transformation is as impressive as McConaughey's, (and Leto is also Oscar-nominated, (ed.: and also won!))

Jared Leto as Rayon in the film, when he still looks good

The third major role in Dallas is Jennifer Garner's (Juno (2007)) turn as a doctor whose sympathy gradually shifts from the hospital system to the alternative that Woodroof represents. Garner is once again wonderful, but she seems to stand in the shade of the physically transformative men in most reviews, which she doesn't deserve.
There is something painful in watching this movie, - and for me it wasn't the 'good' kind of painful. The lead and Leto's parts are deadly sick through the entire film, and we are in hospitals again and again. They are emaciated and look incredibly bad. Furthermore, Woodroof can be a stupid asshole.
He is fiercely disgusting in the way he leads his life, and he only distinguishes himself from his equally no-good hick friends, when he receives his death notice. AIDS is what makes him a redeemable character; the disease educates him into being a better person, which is in a way pretty terrible. What propels the character forward is his strong will to live and to help others to live.
SPOILER The few moving moments of the film were for me the scenes just before Rayon's death, when Woodroof finally stops throwing homophobic abuse at his closest friend.
I know it was part of the character they created for the film, but for me the distance between he and I became too big for me to get thrown over completely, once he (predictably) altered behavior.
The story of struggling with the DEA and AIDS-patients dying in droves every day is as interesting as it is depressing. Dallas Buyers Club does a good job of shedding light on the illness and the way it was treated (and not treated) at this point in time in the US (1985-1992). The desperation is palpable, yet didn't cut my heart in half. You may think this a compliment or not, as you like.
Dallas Buyers Club has obvious merits in its performances and strong handling of its story. It is not one of my favorites of 2013, and in the case of McConaughey, ironically, I think that he has starred in not one but two essentially better films in this Oscar-year that he is sure not to win an Oscar for, Jeff Nichols' Mud and Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, although his performance in this film is small. For AIDS-themed cinema with more impact try out How to Survive a Plague (2012), The Normal Heart (2014) and BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017).
Canadian director of Dallas Jean-Marc Vallée has also directed the gay-themed C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005), which isn't a perfect film, but which I personally enjoyed a great deal more than Dallas Buyers Club. He is already busy with his next film, Wild (2014), which stars Reese Witherspoon as a woman on a very long solo hike.

Meet the hero of Dallas Buyers Club, Ron Woodroof, in the trailer here

Budget: 5 mil. $
Box office: 33.2 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of Dallas Buyers Club?
Did I miss anything crucial in my review?

A Year Without Love/Un Año Sin Amor (2005) or, Loneliness Sucks

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Kinky bondage sex is promised on this poster for Anahí Berneri's A Year Without Love

A lonely man who translates French to Spanish and teaches a young woman in the language, while he works on his autobiographical novel, also battles serious illness due to having AIDS.

 
A Year Without Love is written by Susana Silvestre (Life According to Muriel/La Vida Según Muriel (1997)), Pablo Pérez (El Mendigo Chupapijas (2009, short)) and debuting co-writer/director Anahí Berneri (Alanis (2017)). It is based on Pérez's same-titled autobiography. 

It is a starkly disheartening, Argentine film about an HIV-positive, poor wretch guy trying to get by. The DVD accentuates the erotic and sexual aspects of the film, undoubtedly in a ploy to sell more units, but these aspects are actually few and far between. The film might be erotic if you are into sadomasochism.
The photography (by Lucio Bonelli (Re Loca (2018))) focuses closely on all that is ugly and detestable. Buenos Aires looks awful in Un Año Sin Amor, a very discouraging film. It never rises to success, because there is no suspense in the story, which is mostly just things that happen to the lead, and because its crude focus on everything ugly doesn't say anything in itself other than that life with AIDS stinks, which isn't compelling enough in itself for an entire film to rely on.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown

Box office: 65k $

= Uncertain - but almost certainly a mega-flop

[A Year Without Love premiered 11 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 102 minutes. Shooting took place in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The film opened #93 to a 3k $ first weekend in 1 theater in North America, where it peaked at #89 and in 2 theaters (different weekends), grossing 24k $ (36.9 % of the total gross). Its biggest market was Argentina with 27k $ (41.5 %). North America was the 2nd biggest, and the UK was the 3rd biggest with 7k $ (10.8 %). If made on a very low 250k $ budget, the gross would result in a 0.26 time cost return, ranking the film a mega-flop. It won a prize in Berlin, among other honors. Berneri returned with Encarnación (2007). Juan Minujín (The Two Popes (2019)), who plays Pablo Pérez, returned in Stephanie (2005). A Year Without Love is fresh at 91 % with a 7.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of A Year Without Love?

Angels in America (2003, miniseries) or, Dying in the 80s, of AIDS, at L-E-N-G-T-H

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Emma Thompson is the visiting angel on this dramatic poster for Mike Nichols' Angels in America

Tony Kushner (Munich (2005)) wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning play set in the 1980s on AIDS, politics, religion, sex and homosexuality, which premiered in 1991. Adapting it was attempted first by master filmmaker Robert Altman, who ultimately didn't secure the necessary funding. Kushner tried adapting it into a single film but failed. He then started adapting it to miniseries format, and HBO agreed to finance the effort, directed by German master filmmaker Mike Nichols (Catch-22 (1970)) which was released in two versions: You can either see Angels as two roughly 3 hour movies, or as six episodes of around an hour. This review is based on the latter option.

New York in the 1980s: A young, Jewish gay couple are struck by tragedy, when the one part is diagnosed with AIDS. SPOILER The city's shark-like lawyer and Republican, Roy Cohn, dies equally slow from the disease at the same time. Meanwhile the healthy Jew leaves his sick sweetheart and has sex with Cohn's secretary, who has a wife. Next his Mormon mother enters the story, and later; angels.

Angels in America has a stellar cast that includes Al Pacino (The Godfather (1972)), James Cromwell (Owd Bob (1998)), Jeffrey Wright (Lady in the Water (2006)) and Emma Thompson (Beautiful Creatures (2013)). But the stars that really stand out and distinguish themselves here are Meryl Streep (The Manchurian Candidate (2004)) as the Mormon mother, a conflicted part she plays perfectly; and Patrick Wilson (Fargo (2015, TV-series)), who plays the closeted, married gay secretary coming out with lots of charm and intensity.
After the angels enter the story, the metaphysical elements get out of hand in a rainbow of pomposity and self-importance. The limit for this audience member's engagement in the tale gets crossed somewhere between the ethereal, the political, the racial politics and all the dramatic gays, but many others slurp it all up with a quivering smile.
Pacino is Cohn, the dying big-shot lawyer in denial, and he is almost so sick, feeble and skeletal here that you feel physically ill yourself by just watching him, (which you'll do at length in Angels in America).
The ending is excessively lengthy, so in spite of the series' qualities, it is far from being the gemstone that it is hailed as. Better AIDS-themed works include Philadelphia (1993), How to Survive a Plague (2012, documentary), Dallas Buyers Club (2013), The Normal Heart (2014, TV movie), BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017) and more.

Related posts:

Mike Nichols: Closer (2004) - Nichols and Marber's intelligent film of love and infidelity 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Biloxi Blues (1988) or, '45 Army Camp Confidential   
Catch-22 (1970) - Nichols wages war on war with ensemble cast in absurdist satire 

Watch a 4-minute clip from the miniseries here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: None (TV miniseries)
= Uncertain
[Angels in America was first broadcast from 7 December - 14 December (HBO) and runs 352 minutes. Shooting took place for 137 days in New York and in Rome, Italy from March 2002 - January 2003. It was reportedly the most-seen TV movie of 2003, - whether this made it profitable also is regrettably unreported. It won 5/7 Golden Globe nominations, 11/21 Emmy nominations, an AFI award, a National Board of Review award, was nominated for a Grammy and several other honors. Nichols returned with Closer (2004). Streep returned in Freedom: A History of Us (2003, documentary TV-series) and theatrically in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)); Thompson in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004); and Pacino in The Merchant of Venice (2004). Angels in America is certified fresh at 92 % with a 9.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Angels in America?

Philadelphia (1993) - AIDS and homosexuality acknowledged in great drama

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+ Best Courtroom Movie of the Year + Best Ensemble of the Year: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Antonio Banderas, Charles Napier, Jason Robards, Roger Corman, Mary Steenburgen + Best Huge Hit Movie of the Year + Best Philadelphia Movie of the Year + Best True-Story Movie of the Year 

Two champions of 1993: Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, full of gravitas on the poster for Jonathan Demme's Philadelphia

Philadelphia struck new ground in 1993 by being the first major American motion picture to deal with AIDS. And to portray gays, homophobia and gay discrimination in a realistic and moving story.
 
Andy is an up-and-coming lawyer at a big law firm in Philadelphia, when he is suddenly made to look incompetent and laid off due to his burgeoning AIDS illness. In a sympathetic but essentially homophobic colleague, Andy finds a councilor, who is willing to take on his wrongful dismissal suit.

Philadelphia thus quickly turns into a court room drama and a damn good one at that: The procedures and witness interviews seem realistic, and master New-Yorker director Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs (1991)), whose 12th film it is, and great cinematographer Tak Fujimoto (Signs (2002)) wisely rely on the faces and performances to speak for themselves here. - And a great cast of 'faces' is grouped together in Philadelphia's court room scenes: From rapidly worsening Andy as played by Tom Hanks (Larry Crowne (2011)), Charles Napier (Black Crescent Moon (2008)) as the judge, Jason Robards (A Boy and His Dog (1975)) as the discriminating boss Charles Wheeler, who is never made into a monster in any way, Antonia Banderas (Life Itself (2018)) as Andy's partner through it all, Mary Steenburgen (A Walk in the Woods (2015)) as the opposing lawyer, and even Roger Corman (Apollo 13 (1995)) as one of the senior partners. - An exciting cast!
Hanks looks surprisingly different and younger ('just' 20 years ago, although he certainly looks better aged, I think), and he is terrific here, - and Denzel Washington (Flesh & Blood (1979, TV movie)) is equally good as his attorney. It seems to me that it is the development in Washington's character, which is the most significant and important one in the movie: SPOILER Andy dies of AIDS. - But his councilor Miller learns to see homosexuals as people deserving to love and be loved just as other people, and to abandon his homophobia. Washington acts both his character's homophobia, - common and intolerant, - and eventual acceptance and broadening of his own concepts and mind believably, and it is a wonderful and edifying change to witness.
Philadelphia is definitely an issue film with a clear purpose; a pro-diversity and anti-discrimination agenda. The stroke of genius is multifold: The film is very far from being a 'gay' film; the issue is broached from the position of the heterosexual America, delicately, (no sex scenes or scenes of intense intimacy that would alienate audiences are risked.) And it is made as American as possible: Set in the most American of all cities, Philadelphia, with contributing musician icons Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young, and a great score by Howard Shore (Hugo (2011)), dealing with universal themes of justice and injustice. The homophobia is given room to exist and show its stupid face in the very eloquent and intelligent frame of Washington. SPOILER There is a strange scene of change at Andy's flat, where Washington's character listens to an opera that Andy expands upon and his last guards against the homosexual vanishes. Somehow Demme makes this tricky writing work cinematically, - and the result is beautiful.
Philadelphia is a great, sentimental film that does not point fingers or preach but works for real understanding and human integration. The change that is portrayed through the character Miller is largely symbolic of the change that has occurred for large parts of American and other nations' societies over the last decades to understand and include homosexuals in everyday life as anyone else.
The one place in Philadelphia ,where Ron Nyswaner's (Love Hurts (1990)) fine script jumps a little too fast over an important point, is in the beginning, when Miller suddenly decides to take on the hugely problematic case overnight. It is clear that he has sympathy for his ill colleague, but I would have liked a little more elaboration on this point.
Springsteen's Streets of Philadelphia and Young's Philadelphia are both great songs, which work uncommonly well in the film. The two songs brilliantly start and end a film that seems to have personal importance for the filmmakers and has certainly been done with great care and sensitivity.

 

Related posts:

 

1993 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Top 10: Best gay-themed titles 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 26 mil. $
Box office: 206.6 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 7.94 times its cost)
[Philadelphia premiered 14 December (California) and runs 126 minutes. The film is inspired in part by Geoffrey Bowers and Clarence B. Cain's suit against Bowers' former law firm workplace for wrongful dismissal, won in 1990, shortly before his death. The filmmakers settled a lawsuit from the Bowers family, who sought compensation for the use of his story. Shooting took place in Pennsylvania, including Philadephia, from October 1992 - February 1993. The film opened in 4 theaters to a strong 143k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #1 with a 13.8 mil. $ 4th weekend. It stayed #1 for another week and in the top 5 for another 2 weeks (#2-#3) and grossed 77.4 mil. $ (37.5 % of the total gross). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal to its rating here. The film was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning Best Actor (Hanks) and Song (Streets of Philadelphia by Springsteen). It lost Makeup to Mrs. Doubtfire, Song (Young's Philadelphia) to the film's other song nomination and Original Screenplay to Jane Campion for The Piano. It also won 2/3 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a BAFTA, won a Grammy and a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Demme returned theatrically with Beloved (1998). Hanks returned in Forrest Gump (1994), Washington in The Pelican Brief (1993). Philadelphia is certified fresh at 79 % with a 6.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Philadelphia?