Philadelphia (1993)
Genre: Drama
Duration: 125 minuten
Country:
United States
Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Stars: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington and Roberta Maxwell
IMDb score:
7,7 (275.619)
Releasedate: 22 December 1993
Philadelphia plot
"No one would take on his case... until one man was willing to take on the system."
Lawyer Andrew Beckett is told shortly after his promotion that he has been fired. His employer gives the reason that he has messed up an assignment. Andy thinks otherwise: he thinks they found out he's gay and has AIDS, which was the reason for his firing. In a world full of misunderstanding and intolerance, he fights for justice.
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Actors and actresses
Andrew Beckett
Joe Miller
Charles Wheeler
Belinda Conine
Miguel Alvarez
Bob Seidman
Walter Kenton
Judge Garnett
Lisa Miller
Jerome Green
Reviews & comments
Onderhond
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- 87698 messages
- 13078 votes
Phew.
Seen it once, but could hardly remember anything about it, except that the film caused some commotion at the time because of the subject. And of course the title song by Springsteen, one that I used to really like.
The first hour is pretty nice. Typical court movie of course, with a cheeky Hanks and Washington who plays the perfect Hollywood lawyer with his smiles and laconic attitude. I don't think anyone would ever confide in my own business, but within a film it's fun of course.
But Demme doesn't aim for fun court scenes, that much is clear after watching the second hour. There the drama card is drawn, unfortunately in a very sentimental and cheap way. The scenes become more and more cringe-inducing, with the sad highlight being the end credit with statues from the past.
Mno, Demme goes completely off track during the second part, so that the reasonable start is quickly forgotten and there is especially a very sour aftertaste when the credits finally start rolling across the screen.
1.0*
Translated from Dutch · View original
timburton
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- 1296 messages
- 632 votes
Jonathan Demme's Philadelphia was apparently the first film on the subject of AIDS to reach the general US audience. The film is also seen as one of the titles that ushered in the American commercial gay era of cinema. Somehow I always expect with a film from the nineties that I hardly have to adapt to the mindset and zeitgeist of the year of production. Yet this time it took me much more effort to eat this film aimed at the emancipation of homosexual AIDS patients with my eyes in 2017. The soundtrack alone is far too sentimental to support an otherwise well-researched script. Even the necessary gluttony to keep a film about the AIDS epidemic surrounding homosexuals appetizing for the conservative twentieth-century film-goer now seems over-the-top, in fact a bit ridiculous (see: the family-amateur film cliché, so that we can all humanize with the sick character: the family is mentally very healthy and they also do the same things as my family). By the way, would a lawyer still publicly state that he thinks homosexuals are dirty? Would one still wash one's hand after shaking this with that of an HIV patient? Let's hope we're well past that stage, at least in Western Europe. Anyway, Philadelphia seems to be really outdated in a few years. Not only the film style is too sweet. The subject is also too clichéd. That makes it interesting to watch. Fortunately, Demme's special camera work (constantly looking from another's eyes fits well with the then-controversial theme) and the great acting of Hanks and Washington make up for a lot.
Translated from Dutch · View original
IH88
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- 9810 messages
- 3201 votes
“In this courtroom, Mr.Miller, justice is blind to matters of race, creed, color, religion, and sexual orientation.”
“With all due respect, your honor, we don't live in this courtroom, do we?”
Stays strong. Philadelphia sometimes overdoes it in terms of sentimentality, dominant music and drama, but when director Jonathan Demme steps back and lets the actors do the work, the film is a strong and heartfelt film about the consequences of AIDS, how homosexuality is looked at, and also a court drama. With excellent acting by Hanks and Washington, and great music by Bruce Springsteen, among others.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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