The late director Norman Rene and writer Craig Lucas made a pretty fine creative team on the stage and in the movies, and this 1990 drama about the evolving impact of AIDS on gay New Yorkers is their best cinematic achievement. The ensemble story follows the lives of nine or so characters as word of the so-called "gay cancer" eventually becomes a real force, killing several of them as the years go by. The film works well on a number of levels, not least of which is the enviable closeness of the characters, the script's wit, the bittersweet experience of loss, and a celebratory attitude at the end mixing wisdom with defiance. --Tom Keogh
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: very touching movie Comment: 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. Customer Rating: Summary: Excellent daring movie Comment: 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. Customer Rating: Summary: Captures the times beautifully Comment: "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. Customer Rating: Summary: Dreary And Not All That Watchable Comment: 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. Customer Rating: Summary: you're gonna cry... Comment: I thought that *Longtime Companion* was an endearing tearjerker of a movie. This films is about a cluster of friends, dying one by one from AIDS during the 80's.
The movie opens in 1980, with this particular circle of friends. Everyone is healthy and dandy. One man meets a hairy guy and they've maintained a relationship throughout the film. This movie immediately opens with all of them reading about this mysterious virus that seems to be attacking gay men. At first, it seemed to be associated with gay men who do poppers. This virus has earned a nickname, "gay cancer". It wasn't until a couple of years later that this virus was finally termed AIDS.
The whole AIDS was not still not clear to people, including gay men. In this film, you'll see how some gay men are uncomfortable with AIDS and especially those afflicted. You'll see men afraid to have sex. Afraid to kiss. Heck, you'll even see one washing his hands and face vigorously after greeting his friend who is dying from AIDS.
The time frame between the death of one friend to another friend having AIDS is quick. The movie jumps one year to another that surrounds an afflicted friends. You'll think that the movie doesn't build up enough for you to get emotional. Not true. You'll cry! So, have a box of Kleenex ready.
I love this movie and I cannot believe that I haven't seen it earlier. I often hear about older gay men retelling stories of the 70's and 80's on how gay life use to be as well as witnessing the deaths of their close friends to AIDS. Today, those affliced with HIV/AIDS are living longer, thanks to modern medicine. However, I cannot imagine what it was like, living in fear of a virus that seemed to be targeting gay men and the doctors could not seem to treat it.
Overall, it's a good movie that's worth your time. Check it out with a box of tissues.
