a review of 费城故事

"think about it. those guys pumping up together...trying to be macho and faggot at the same time." this movie has some flat out very very good scenes. the manic, disorienting camera angle looming, circling above tom while he explains his passion for opera, the camera squarely on denzel, doing truly convincing face acting, while a fire over his shoulder is the main illumination of the shot. going back and forth, back and forth again. truly a thing of beauty. the way denzel acts it in a way you believe to be true, and also not in a way that makes you hate him, like as the irl actor denzel washington...because he doesn't really make it villainous. he makes it exactly the right size so that pretty much anyone who is watching this can relate to having someone in their life who was kinda just like him in 1993. but this was released in 1993. and written years before then presumably...written, cast, filmed, edited and released during the pretty much exact years that correspond to the years with the peak death tolls of the us aids epidemic. this film is a piece of activism...surely not in the sense that it was the most radical thing going on at the time...more in the sense that it brought a film that still hits over thirty years later (because a lot of this shit is exactly the same or worse now) to a wide, wide audience and brought it all the way to fucking life in front of their eyes. that's one way to create (or sustain) change. the first half or two thirds is weaving a more skillful narrative, while the remaining portion is somewhat sensational...but it still hits. it really hits.