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CultureMovie reviews

The Public

The Public | Movie review
17 February 2020
Musanna Ahmed
Avatar
Musanna Ahmed
17 February 2020

Movie and show review

Musanna Ahmed

The Public

★★★★★

Release date

21st February 2020

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

Links

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Brat Pack member Emilio Estevez stealthily left his full-time acting career a while ago with a smooth transition to directing, proving himself a talented fact-based dramatist with films on Bobby Kennedy and the Camino de Santiago. He returns ten years after The Way with The Public, a keenly observed drama about a group of homeless men who take shelter in a public library during an Arctic blast in Cincinnati and find themselves in a standoff with the police.

A talented actor himself, Estevez draws commanding performances from his ensemble cast, a pick’n’mix of Hollywood’s underrated talents, roping in Gabrielle Union and Taylor Schilling for smaller roles than they’d usually play. Estevez himself acts alongside Jena Malone as a pair of librarians faced by a group of homeless patrons led by Jackson (the terrific Michael K. Williams) who need to escape from the cold. Sympathising with their circumstances, the librarians provide shelter. It’s a cordial relationship that only becomes stronger when they are threatened by the authorities, played by Christian Slater and a fierce Alec Baldwin, who view the sit-in as a criminal act. Sometimes the proceedings can be flat, as Estevez doesn’t have a particularly flashy aesthetic, but the development of strong characters keeps us involved. 

The public library, aptly described in the press release as one of the last bastions of democracy-in-action, is as effective an environment as a bank or a train would be in acting as a microcosm of socioeconomic inequality. However, the thematic weight is slightly undercut by a sense that the material could afford to be more challenging and provocative. Ultimately, whilst The Public is a little more sophisticated than cousin movie Battle in Seattle but not as urgent as Bloody Sunday, it’s a worthwhile endeavour by an underappreciated filmmaker, who makes the most of his rich connection to industry peers to raise awareness of a scenario homeless people face everyday. We leave the movie feeling grateful to stay warm this winter and inspired to help those in need of the same. 

★★★★★

Musanna Ahmed

The Public is released in select cinemas on 21st February 2020.

Watch the trailer for The Public here:

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Movie and show review

Musanna Ahmed

The Public

★★★★★

Release date

21st February 2020

Certificate

UPG121518 title=

Links

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