So I checked out the movie The Public the other day… and I can say with some assurance that this is the very best movie ever produced about the Cincinnati Public Library that has yet been made. Might even be the best in the long line of Public Library movies… which I suspect might have a finite set of one (research may be needed). No, I didn’t know what this movie was… but apparently its production did make the news here in Cinci… I just don’t watch the news.
And, to be fair, this is actually a pretty good movie. The basic premise is that the library is often used by the homeless during the day as a warm place to take shelter. In the course of this film, Cincinnati is in the middle of a cold snap and the homeless shelters are all full. So a group decide to declare a sit-in and refuse to leave the library at closing time and the staff have to decide how to handle it. Force them out to their possible death, or stay with them and help. This leads to the police being called in, the doors to the library being blocked, and various people running for mayor getting involved.
As a film that’s basically making a political statement about the homeless and the responsibility of government and government facilities, this is a pretty interesting movie. It was well acted, reasonably well paced, and it kept me wondering if this was going to go south in a hail of gunfire or if there’d be a peaceful solution. I can’t say it’s a great film as things sometimes start to run a little long and I think the ultimate message, theme, plot, and resolution don’t hold up as well as I’d have liked. It’s not catastrophic or anything… I just found the messaging a little muddled.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but this is a film written and directed by Emilio Estevez… a name I haven’t heard in a long time. I didn’t even realize that was Emilio in the star role… not under that beard and with more lines in his face that I recall. But he did a good job. He’s also joined by Alec Baldwin, Taylor Schilling, Gabrielle Union, Christian Slater, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, and others. A surprisingly strong cast for A) a movie about the public library of B) Cincinnati, written and directed by C) Emilio Estevez. But power to the lot of them for signing up.
Oh, and it clearly was filmed in Cincinnati and they get a lot of the suburb and city location references right. And LaRosa’s Pizza. Lots and lots of LaRosa’s. So much LaRosa’s! 🙂 So I got Papa Johns the other night.
I’m not sure I could convince anyone to see a flick with a political/social message centered around the public library. But I think it’s worth checking out and if you are on the fence, just love Cincinnati or libraries as a public asset, want to see a non-preachy pro-social message flick, want to see what Emilio Estevez is up to these days, or any other reason, it’s worth checking out. It’s a movie made by – and for – adults. A mature picture without a superhero or tank in sight (though it does have a disconcerting number of out-of-shape naked male asses… almost all for a good cause!).
Score: 84