AIDS Movies. It's not the most upbeat Hollywood genre. In fact it took Hollywood around four years after the infamous 1981 NY Times Gay Cancer article to even broach the subject with
Buddies (1985). But over the years, there have been some excellent dramas, comedy-dramas, and documentaries that have given cinematic coverage of one of the darkest times in this country's history. One movie I'd heard of but hadn't seen until recently is a special entry in this genre-
Longtime Companion (1989).
LC opens on Fire Island in 1981 with a group of gay friends doing what gay friends do on Fire Island- drinking cocktails at a tea dance, watching hunky guys sashay on the beach, and finding love... or at least lust among the dunes. But interspersed with these idyllic moments of gay life are shots of various characters coming across the aforementioned Times article. I don't know if there was a time when a viewer watched this and wondered, "Hm. What's going to happen?" But for me, the spectre of AIDS haunts this film from the very first title card: July 31, 1981.
The film proceeds to show how the AIDS epidemic affects this group of friends and their extended NYC circle through a series of jumps in time. It feels like a gut punch every time the screen goes to black and a title card shows a new date. "Jesus. Who's dead or dying now?" It borders on predictable cliche- but perhaps that's the point. As this disease spread and decimated entire communities, every day was a new funeral, another friend gone, a lover diagnosed, a mysterious sore appearing. It was a never-ending nightmare that seemed both random- and sickeningly predictable.
What makes this movie stand-out from some of its more famous cinematic kin (yes, I'm talking about you,
Philadelphia) is how it deals with this circle of friends.
LC is insular. It is the world of this particular group of gay men. While the import of this disease stretches far beyond their ranks, the focus remains on the connections between them- the details of
their grief and dying.
Refreshing even for now (revolutionary for 1989) there is no sense that they are struggling with being gay. This movie celebrates these self-made gay communities, accepting these bonds at face value.
LC has no time for gay shame. These men are fighting too hard for their lives. There is freedom here even in the midst of an epidemic. It's a unique perspective.
LC isn't great cinema. The editing feels a little too made-for-TV and melodrama overwhelms on occasion- but what it does well is focus on small, human moments that warm, terrify, and devastate. The overhead shot of the first victim of this group (an impossibly young and beautiful Dermot Mulroney) shows him lying alone in his hospital bed hooked up to respirators through tubes and a mask, his eyes wide in both terror and wonder.
Bruce Davison (the baddy Senator Kelly from the
X-Men franchise) was nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of the titular companion- and Mary Louise Parker and Tony Shalhoub add some good "Before they were stars" moments. Sadly director Norman Rene died of AIDS in 1996 at the age of 45. He left behind a beautiful testament to the strength and power of friendship and love- and that's what Pride is all about.
