Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Cruising (1980)

Director: William Friedkin
Writers:  William Friedkin, Gerald Walker
Cast:       Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen

A police detective goes undercover in the sleazy and underground gay subculture of NYC to catch a serial killer who is targeting gay men.

The film is based on the novel of same name by Gerald Walker. It doesn't have any humor at all and proceeds like a documentary. The film is more about Al Pacino's character's transformation through the investigation as he increasingly doubts his own sexual orientation. The film depicts it in a very ambiguous way whereas the novel supposedly was very explicit. The catching of serial killer becomes a sideshow and we are not even sure whether the one who is caught is the real serial killer at all as the evidence is there for only one murder. 

Whether you like the film or not would depend on the level of ambiguity you can tolerate. It faced numerous protests by numerous gay rights groups during its filming.

Rating: 3.5/5

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