Best movies set in Baltimore
Charm City, Baltimore is the city of charm for many directors who decide to set their film works for a long time. Probably the streets of the city inspire many screenwriters who consider the streets of Baltimore as a Highroller bonus code.
Also in recent times Baltimore was chosen as movie set. Released just this year, Every Day is the adaptation of David Levithan’s novel, directed by Michael Sucsy. In its simplicity of structure, it hides more than an unusual and very modern subtext.
On the contrary, “The Shape of Water” (2017) is a traditional fairy tale, with a willful heroine, a fascinating monster, Russian spies, generous friends and a ruthless villain, who claims the power of love and the overcoming of all kinds of racism or injury. During the processing of the movie a really special background episode took place. The film, indeed, is set in Baltimore but in fact The Shape of Water was shot in Hamilton and Toronto in Ontario, Canada. In these two cities Guillermo del Toro, the film’s director, reviving America in the 1960s. For example, the corner between Dundas Street and Ossington Street in Toronto was transformed thanks to a combination of visual effects and vintage cars, in one of the central streets of Baltimore in those years.
However, the most successful film set even though not totally in Baltimore is probably The Silence of the Lambs. The film has a great cast with the excellence represented by Anthony Hopkins and his truly unforgettable interpretation. Right in our city, obviously in the plot fiction, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a former psychiatrist and criminologist, was imprisoned for over eight years for having killed some of his patients and devoured their bodies (that’s why his nickname is Hannibal the Cannibal) . Dr. Lecter, however, can become a valuable ally for a serial killer who is making heinous crimes, but he is certainly not a simple type to interact with…
Red Dragon, released in 2002, is instead the narrative prequel of The Silence of the Lambs, taking us back to 1980. Again, Hannibal Lecter attends an orchestral performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream right in Baltimore, He is deeply irritated by a flute player who repeatedly misses his part. If you have watched the movie you perfectly know the poor end of the musician…
From thriller we move to science fiction with 12 Monkeys, directed by Terry Gilliam and loosely based on the film La jetée, by Chris Marker, French experimental short film of 1962. The protagonist, Bruce Willis, in the year 2035 of an apocalyptic future, goes back to the Baltimore of the 90s to investigate the events that led to the 99% extinction of humanity and forced the survivors to live underground to escape the contagion of a lethal virus. A great movie with repeated twists.
A totally different one is Step Up, a media franchise made of 5 films and 1 television series. All productions are focused on the world of dance and the first feature film of the series of 2006 gave much popularity to the protagonist Channing Tatum.