Philadelphia dvd movie.|
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List Price: $14.95 Our Price: $12.99 You Save: $1.96 Features • Anamorphic • Closed-captioned • Color • Dolby • Widescreen • NTSC In Theaters : 23 December, 1993 DVD Release : 10 September, 1997 |
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Philadelphia description Philadelphia wasn't the first movie about AIDS (it followed such worthy independent films as Parting Glances and Longtime Companion), but it was the first Hollywood studio picture to take AIDS as its primary subject. In that sense, Philadelphia is a historically important film. As such, it's worth remembering that director Jonathan Demme (Melvin and Howard, Something Wild, The Silence of the Lambs) wasn't interested in preaching to the converted; he set out to make a film that would connect with a mainstream audience. And he succeeded. Philadelphia was not only a hit, it also won Oscars for Bruce Springsteen's haunting "The Streets of Philadelphia," and for Tom Hanks as the gay lawyer Andrew Beckett who is unjustly fired by his firm because he has AIDS. Denzel Washington is another lawyer (functioning as the mainstream-audience surrogate) who reluctantly takes Beckett's case and learns to overcome his misconceptions about the disease, about those who contract it, and about gay people in general. The combined warmth and humanism of Hanks and Demme were absolutely essential to making this picture a success. The cast also features Jason Robards, Antonio Banderas (as Beckett's lover), Joanne Woodward, and Robert Ridgely, and, of course, those Demme regulars Charles Napier, Tracey Walter, and Roger Corman. --Jim Emerson |
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| ♥♥♥♥♥ | Philadelphia |
| Denzel Washington is probably my favorite actor. Even in that dog of a movie called THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, he shone. Tom Hanks? Well, lemme quit hating the guy. This is a well-intentioned movie, Tom did a creditable job, and we had extreme close-ups with funny colors to camouflage the spots where he overreached. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Antonio Banderas fly in the face of his Latino studliness by playing a gay guy. A passionate one, though, since he's still a Latino, after all.
Actually, this is a Hollywood "message movie," and you know what that means. It's about as subtle as Michael Moore. Those who agree with the message flock to be beaten about the head by it for two hours. Those who the filmmakers would like to see the movie, those who don't agree with the message, stay as far away from it as possible. There's a scene in the library where nobody wants to sit at the table with AIDS boy. The way they stared at him reminded me of "lao wei in China" experiences. Denzel's character was reminded of segregation, even though he's too young to remember it, and started to care about Tom Hanks' character. AIDS discrimination is bad. Actually, any discrimination at all is bad. And that's the movie's message. I agree with the message, but still. That's all we've got. As a totally irrelevant non-sequiter, if the name "Sam Francisco" means anything to you, you've seen subtle commentary on discrimination. I love a great courtroom drama. This one was merely good. With so much of an agenda to squeeze into a two-hour film, they had to take a few shortcuts here. Sad, ain't it? But even so, a well-intentioned film that I'm glad I saw. Once. Not twice. Once is enough, thank you. |
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