Courtesy of the Denver Film Festival
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Again this year, Denver Film Festival artistic director Matt Campbell is offering his must-see picks for each day of the fest – including many flicks that movie lovers might otherwise miss amid the flood of silver-screen goodies. Today he spotlights a selection for November 9: The Inspection.
The Inspection
Directed by Elegance Bratton
7 p.m. Wednesday, November 9
Denver Botanic Gardens
The Inspection “was the closing-night presentation at the New York Film Festival this year,” notes Matt Campbell, “and we’re very excited to have the film – and we’re also excited that one of the main actors, Raúl Castillo, will be in attendance and receiving our excellence-in-acting award. And we’re also having a CineLatinx event in his honor.”
The movie, which stars Jeremy Pope, is drawn from the life of its director, Elegance Bratton. Campbell points out that “it’s based on his own true-life experience of joining the Marines and going to boot camp as a homosexual Black man. It takes place within the time frame of the early 2000s, when the Iraq War and the war in Afghanistan were in full swing, and is an impeccably acted, really powerful look at his struggle – not just the physical endurance required to go through training, but of having to deal with the don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy that was in place at the time and not being able to be who you are. And that really affects everything else that’s going on in this high-pressure environment that’s intentionally trying to break people down.”
Castillo, for his part, “plays a pivotal role in the film, and he’s really breaking out at the moment. He’s in Cha Cha Smooth, the film that won the audience award at Sundance this year and was picked up by Apple+, and also We the Animals. He’s already pretty big, but becoming bigger.”
Continue to see a trailer for The Inspection:
Click to get details about tickets for the 45th annual Denver Film Festival.
