Philadelphia

Philadelphia casts Tom Hanks as Andy Beckett, an attorney at a top law firm who is quickly fired after his AIDS-related symptoms become visibly apparent – with the narrative following ambulance-chaser Joe Miller (Denzel Washington) as he reluctantly agrees to represent Andy in the eventual wrongful-termination lawsuit. Filmmaker Jonathan Demme does an absolutely superlative job of establishing the film’s various characters and their urban environs, and there’s little doubt that Philadelphia’s pervasively compelling atmosphere is heightened by a series of thoroughly captivating performances – with, of course, Hanks delivering justifiably iconic work that only grows more and more riveting as the narrative unfolds. (Washington’s less showy turn is equally impressive, certainly, while the picture benefits substantially from a top-notch supporting cast that includes Jason Robards and Mary Steenburgen.) It’s clear, too, that Demme’s masterful direction remains a consistent highlight within the proceedings, as certain sequences possess an impact and a power that one might not have necessarily anticipated (eg Andy explains the effect opera has on him to a skeptical Joe). And although the movie does lose a little momentum in its second half – the courtroom stuff is just not as compelling as the movie’s smaller, character-based moments – Philadelphia nevertheless (and predominantly) comes off as a top-tier drama that sporadically packs one heck of a punch.

***1/2 out of ****

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