Review of Philadelphia (1993) by Emma B — 17 May 2009

Philadelphia is the story of how Andy Beckett who has aids and his fight to see the people who fired him unfairly brought to justice. This film was good and I did enjoy it but not as much as I thought I would im pretty open to what I watch and I own brokeback mountain and I thought that was a better story than this was in the end because through the film I didnt care if andy was gay or not I wanted to see justice and they kept bringing up his sexual orientation and that got really annoying I wanted to see andy beat the bad guys.

The cast is brilliant the two stars work really well together and are amazing in the film then the supporting cast isnt great antonio banderas is well underused in this he is just running around, looking scared or just sitting quietly and that was a shame because he is a brilliant actor.

The editing was good but the pace was slow and there where things that could easily have been trimmed or cut out of the film because to me it dragged on and on. I love Jonathon Demmes choice of shots and the way he places his camera felt very real and in the moment and his cloes ups on the actors are amazing because im a film student and we get told to do a certain way but Demme doesnt abide by the rules and makes the shots in his unique way and I have respect for that.

While this film had good intentions I felt I was being battered over the head with the 'dont hate gays' message and for me that was why I didnt like the film but I also felt there some technical issues especially with the editing but I would recommend a one time view just to say you've seen it.