These days of follow-up of the judgment of Johnny Depp Y Amber Heard It has given us to think that this would make for a great trial movie. Then it has led us to think about judicial cinema itself, one of the film genres par excellence. It is such a marked style, but also so flexible that it allows for different types of exercise that each one is satisfactory in its own way.
Like these four proposals that we bring you today, all available in streaming, taken from the nineties to today for show the possibilities when making a trial film. And also the luck we had then in terms of supply.
‘Heaven coming soon’ (‘Defending your Life’, 1991)
director: Albert Brooks. Distribution: Albert Brooks, Meryl Streep, Rip Torn, Lee Grant, Buck Henry, Shirley MacLaine.
What is a trial but a process where the acts committed by a person are evaluated. Wouldn’t it be a process similar to what would be followed after death to decide one’s fate? Albert Brooks thus imagines it in a classic comedy with the same ambitions to captivate the general public as to reflect.
Brooks plays a man who, celebrating his birthday with a brand new car, is killed in a car crash. He is taken to Judgment City, an unearthly place where a court decides if he deserves another chance to return to Earth. At the end of such a meticulous process, one’s life is not judged by the good or bad acts of him, but if he has allowed himself to reach his true potential. An funny and delicious film that takes the best of courtroom cinema for its own benefit.
See in Filmin
‘A Few Good Men’ (‘A Few Good Men’, 1992)
director: Rob Reiner. Distribution: Tom Cruise, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Bacon, Cuba Gooding Jr.
Based on his own award-winning play, Aaron Sorkins explores in this impeccable drama for the first time, in a prominent way, the idealized search for truth. A smug young navy lawyer (Tom Cruise) receives a case of two soldiers accused of murdering a colleague from the Guantánamo base. An seemingly simple casewhich is going to have more ramifications than expected.
The solid staging of Rob Reiner -one of the best craftsmen in Hollywood at the time-, the driving pace and energizing energy of one of the best Tom Cruises of all time make this a roller still devastating almost 30 years later. The interrogation scene with Jack Nicholson finishes putting the icing on a fabulous movie.
See in Movistar | Criticism in Espinof
‘Philadelphia’ (1993)
director: Jonathan Deme. Distribution: Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Antonio Banderas, Ron Vawter, Mary Steenburgen.
Philly had a paramount importance in how society perceived a disease such as AIDS and homosexuals, both because of the nature of the case and the fact that Tom Hanks, America’s favorite actor, played a gay man with the disease. It also doesn’t hurt that his defense attorney interprets him a Denzel Washington full of charisma.
Empathy for its characters is what distinguishes this fabulous film from Jonathan Demme, who also goes through the different phases of the trial with fabulous success. He gets excellent performances from Hanks and Washington, as well as a Antonio Banderas who has one of his first relevant roles in Hollywood. Well-intentioned and somewhat sensational, yes, but also very honest and meticulous.
See on Amazon Prime Video and on Filmin | Criticism in Espinof
Pactar con el diablo (‘The Devil’s Advocate’, 1997)
director: TaylorHackford. Distribution: Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino, Charlize Theron, Jeffrey Jones, Judith Ivey.
A great concept film like the ones that populated in the nineties, where Keanu Reeves is literally the devil’s advocate, played by a Al Pacino already settled in that of being untied in his papers. A shrewd lawyer with a fairly ideal life receives the tempting offer from a powerful law firmand the whole situation will hit a sharp and unexpected change.
it works because he knows how to play well each of the parts he wants to play. From the cannibal business framework to the judicial section, also including the mentor-protégé dynamic of Reeves and Pacino, to the combination of family drama with bits of accessible horror. It is, perhaps, one of the most shameless movies of the timebut it’s devilishly enjoyable.
Watch on HBO Max