A Brilliant Crier Movie
Added 8/13/2009
Recently I learned that a friend of mine had become HIV+. So I decided to rent this movie I'd had been looking at for a long time but thought it might be too depressing for casual viewing. But I decided to see it anyway. Purely as a film it's greatly better than I expected,that is in terms of acting and plot construction. I was born in 1980 so some of the earlier years depicted in this film don't come to my memory. The general story is based in New York where a group of gay people,from different backrounds and walks of life who are forced to contend with AIDS,even before it had an official name. The story spans the entire decade of the 80's;from 1981 to 89 and different segments of the movie take place during a different year in the decade. It all starts out when the friends are rather casually discussing an newspaper article about a mysterious "gay cancer". It's really interesting to see the historical context from where these men are all summering at Fire Island and taking the whole situation very casually to something very different. At first it's taken for granted as being a disease effecting heavy drug users or those with a huge amount of sexual partners. That is,until one of these friends fall ill. Over the course of the film these men,one by one become sick and die. Some of them have become romantically involved and their intertwining stories play out all the tensions,dilemas,fear and misinformation that was a huge part of the early years of the AIDS epidemic. From this fact alone you can easily see how sad this film could be. But it's deeper than just the depressing subject of AIDS. Over the course of the film you really begin to like a number of the characters,whose own personel concerns give way to a great sense of sympathy,concern and kindness. And even for them you have to watch them all succomb to AIDS.In the end only two of them and their female friend whose been by their side since the very beginning have survived. The metaphorical scene in the end,which is too important to me for a spoiler is really the part the effected me most emotionally. Personally I found the movie more upsetting at first,since so much of the film strongly emphasizes the feeling of hysteria regarding AIDS before there was a lot of knowledge about the disease. Some of the knowledge in the early days in fact was totally based on hysteria in fact. Another sad fact about this is you really see how AIDS was effecting gay people just at the same time they were beginning to gain acceptance in a society that had long cruelly condemn them. After all,we all remember how both situations intertwined in real life with Rock Hudson. This is actually an excellent slice of life story for those interested in this particular subject matter,whether or gay or not. I would recommend that the sensative and highly bummed out might want to avoid this. But that doesn't take away from how important this movie was and still is even today.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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very touching movie
Added 5/25/2008
This is a very sensitive and touching movie I loved it. I frist watched it some 18 years ago I think, I was very touched by it.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Excellent daring movie
Added 2/12/2008
This movie really touched me so much.
it makes you want to be more daring in your life by accepting who we are. And ofcourse be proud about it.
I loved the actors, they were amazing in depecting the emotions and hard situation.
I wish this epidemic called AIDS will be wiped from our lives for ever.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Captures the times beautifully
Added 1/20/2008
"Longtime Companion", the first full-length chronicle of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s, remains as fresh a look today as when it was made in 1990. Beginning with the discovery of a "gay cancer" in 1981, the film follows a group of loosely-knit friends on a year-to-year basis throughout the decade, and does so with empathy and humor. There are many fine performances, including a moving one by a young Campbell Scott.
"Longtime Companion" seeks to reflect but also to educate, reminding viewers that the deaths of these friends held meaning not only for their intimates but for the larger community as well. AIDS may not make the headlines it once did, but it still warrants a good deal of medical attention through research and human consideration for those who have the disease. It would be fascinating if an updated "Longtime Companion" could ever be made.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Dreary And Not All That Watchable
Added 8/24/2007
I respect the ultra-realism of Longtime Companion, and have no doubt this landmark production accurately conveys the horror that is HIV/AIDS, and tells how this plague arrived unforeseen in the 1980's, ending what had been a golden age of American gay existence, taking so much life and causing so much misery in that community and beyond, yet not only does a portrayal of that tragedy make for a dreary viewing experience, but Longtime Companion isn't a movie with much more to it than its central message. Longtime Companion (which derives its title from the term that showed up in so many obituaries at the height of AIDS--"...survived by his longtime companion...") lacks a plot that runs deeper than a showcase of deaths and ruined lives, and its characters are basic stereotypes: the hot young guy, the co-habiting couple, the rich, older type, etc. Overall, it doesn't have a lot to it except a single message, and single message films normally don't work that well, especially when there is as little depth as there is here.
1 out of 7 people found this helpful.
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A Brilliant Crier Movie
Added 8/13/2009
Recently I learned that a friend of mine had become HIV+. So I decided to rent this movie I'd had been looking at for a long time but thought it might be too depressing for casual viewing. But I decided to see it anyway. Purely as a film it's greatly better than I expected,that is in terms of acting and plot construction. I was born in 1980 so some of the earlier years depicted in this film don't come to my memory. The general story is based in New York where a group of gay people,from different backrounds and walks of life who are forced to contend with AIDS,even before it had an official name. The story spans the entire decade of the 80's;from 1981 to 89 and different segments of the movie take place during a different year in the decade. It all starts out when the friends are rather casually discussing an newspaper article about a mysterious "gay cancer". It's really interesting to see the historical context from where these men are all summering at Fire Island and taking the whole situation very casually to something very different. At first it's taken for granted as being a disease effecting heavy drug users or those with a huge amount of sexual partners. That is,until one of these friends fall ill. Over the course of the film these men,one by one become sick and die. Some of them have become romantically involved and their intertwining stories play out all the tensions,dilemas,fear and misinformation that was a huge part of the early years of the AIDS epidemic. From this fact alone you can easily see how sad this film could be. But it's deeper than just the depressing subject of AIDS. Over the course of the film you really begin to like a number of the characters,whose own personel concerns give way to a great sense of sympathy,concern and kindness. And even for them you have to watch them all succomb to AIDS.In the end only two of them and their female friend whose been by their side since the very beginning have survived. The metaphorical scene in the end,which is too important to me for a spoiler is really the part the effected me most emotionally. Personally I found the movie more upsetting at first,since so much of the film strongly emphasizes the feeling of hysteria regarding AIDS before there was a lot of knowledge about the disease. Some of the knowledge in the early days in fact was totally based on hysteria in fact. Another sad fact about this is you really see how AIDS was effecting gay people just at the same time they were beginning to gain acceptance in a society that had long cruelly condemn them. After all,we all remember how both situations intertwined in real life with Rock Hudson. This is actually an excellent slice of life story for those interested in this particular subject matter,whether or gay or not. I would recommend that the sensative and highly bummed out might want to avoid this. But that doesn't take away from how important this movie was and still is even today.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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very touching movie
Added 5/25/2008
This is a very sensitive and touching movie I loved it. I frist watched it some 18 years ago I think, I was very touched by it.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Excellent daring movie
Added 2/12/2008
This movie really touched me so much.
it makes you want to be more daring in your life by accepting who we are. And ofcourse be proud about it.
I loved the actors, they were amazing in depecting the emotions and hard situation.
I wish this epidemic called AIDS will be wiped from our lives for ever.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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