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Monday, January 03, 2011
Things movies get wrong about San Francisco
I enjoyed Clint Eastwood's "Hereafter." It didn't come close to making my Top 10 list, but I nodded my head in appreciation when Mick LaSalle put it on his. It was flawed, but interesting and unique -- the type of film Clint Eastwood should be making at this point in his career.
popeater.com
Matt Damon in "Hereafter," admiring his awesome parking spot.
It also contained a mistake that Bay Area native Eastwood definitely should not be making at age 80. During two separate scenes, major characters drive to a cooking class in San Francisco and find parking right in front of the school. These sequences don't occur in the Sunset District or Potrero Hill, either. I'm guessing based on landmarks and the architecture that they were shot in either Nob Hill or North Beach. (Updated! Apparently I was off by a body of water. See below.)
To be fair, Damon's character is a psychic, and could have had a premonition about the spot. But this still highlights one of my biggest frustrations about movies that take place in San Francisco: No one ever has to hunt for parking.
When I'm watching a movie that takes place in the Bay Area, I'm usually thinking of two different grades: the overall quality of the film, and the location-specific realism. For example, Philip Kaufman's "Twisted" would receive a Little Man sleeping, but as a San Francisco film the Little Man would be falling out of his chair. (All of Kaufman's SF films use the location wonderfully.) "Zodiac" and "The Pursuit of Happyness" are two more recent films that captured the vibe of the city, while getting the logistics right as well.
Below are a few of my specific San Francisco movie frustrations. Yours in the comments ... Read More 'Things movies get wrong about San Francisco' »
| Jan 03 at 11:05 AM
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