Sal

Someone once told me when I was in college, "When the writers don't know what to say, you will surely end up with a bad movie". They must have seen this picture in their radar. This movie goes minutes without speaking lines and there is no motivation for the silence. This isn't film making, this is wasting film and time. Turned it off half way thru simply because this is absolute trash. The person playing Sal bears no resemblance to Mineo, but that really doesn't matter: fortunately, his skills as an actor are up to par with the requirements of the script.

It's the story of sal mineos last day on earth in detail. Sometimes to much detail. Like him lifting weights and the close ups of him eating. It gets better if you watch it a few times. I think James franco should have spent more time on the ending. Either way it's a tragic story of an innocent life snuffed out for no apparent reason.

This film tells the story of the last day of the Hollywood actor, Sal Mineo, whose life was tragically cut short.

Despite the potentially engaging subject matter, "Sal" is not a very interesting film to watch, unfortunately. I can hardly believe it can be so boring. The film starts off with a four minute scene of him working out in a gym. Then Sal on the phone for minutes, and you can only hear one end of the conversation. Then more phone calls. It's probably the most uninteresting day in real life, let alone in cinema. And where's James Franco? I didn't see him at all, and I did skim through the film again and I couldn't find him.

This film is a waste of time. Avoid!

So, I decided to watch Sal because I was looking for gay themed films and this one popped up. Big mistake, it dramatizes the last day of his life but the key word is drama, why not put something interesting for us to hold our attention? Speaking of attention, I was so bored by the 30 minute mark that I ended up surfing the web and I am sure I missed nothing important

For a film about the last day of an American icon, they should've taken some dramatic license or something. It really made me feel like I was REALLY watching someone's last day, bogged mundane and all the minutiae.

In other words, I can't finish this film anymore than I finished the 3 rd and 4th season of In The House...it was just too painful for me to continue watching, it's boredom level is Prometheus...and that movie was flippin' boring!

I love James Franco & know how talented he is as an actor & now in art as well. I heard he had begun directing so when I saw his movie "SAL" up for viewing I dug right in; not knowing much about Sal Mineo I thought this could be fascinating. Boy was I wrong...and I mean BIG time wrong. This movie looks like something a pack of High-School film club wannabes attempted to make over their Summer break. No make that over their Christmas break.

The movies cinematography, if you can call a single light and one very shaky hand-held camera being filmed by some drunk pulled off the street entertainment, was actually boring and just totally substandard. The incessant & tedious closeups of the actors face, nose or eyes while doing some of the most mundane activities like the minutes long scenes of him smoking or driving were simply awful. No art form, no intrigue, no nothing. Any hope for cleverness remained nonexistent.

Music & sound were other factors that were flimsily handled as if they really didn't matter because all the closeups of the actors nose meant so much more. The overall flabbiness and lack of tension made this 90 minutes particularly painful. The inconsistent tenor of the sound throughout was choppy and uneven while sounding especially tinny, as if hastily grabbed from some stack of tunes noted from long ago. Were those scratches I heard?

Now the acting was particularly amateurish, calling upon memories of plays attempted when we were all of 14, cocky & convinced of our immense talents. I search for descriptives to somehow get across just how terrible this film is and I come up frustrated and empty...kind of like the movie itself. This is no experimental art film folks, it is simply a rotten flick for which you will kick yourself for spending the time and money. MISS IT!