The People vs. Larry Flynt
Directed by Miloš Forman
- drama
The story
Larry Flynt is the hedonistically obnoxious, but indomitable, publisher of Hustler magazine. The film recounts his struggle to make an honest living publishing his girlie magazine and how it changes into a battle to protect the freedom of speech for all people.
What it’s like
Warm, saturated 1970s and 80s period colour, with sweaty club lights, shag carpets, gaudy Midwestern motel rooms and the cold fluorescent wash of courtrooms set against it. Miloš Forman frames with a loose, observational eye, cutting between chaotic party scenes and the stiff, buttoned-up spaces of the legal system, and the sound design leans on a funk and soul soundtrack that gives the early scenes a raucous swagger before the mood turns grim. The tone is brash and darkly comic, with a mounting sense of unease as the story moves from tabloid excess into a hospital ward and a courtroom. Sexual content is frank and explicit in places, including nudity, group sex and pornographic imagery; violence is sudden and real, including a shooting that leaves its central figure in a wheelchair, and the AIDS and illness threads land with weight rather than melodrama. Its arc follows a brazen, self-destructive provocateur who slowly finds a principle worth fighting for. It suits a late-night watch with someone who enjoys sharp, adult satire, and people interested in free speech history who don't mind graphic material.
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