Longtime Companion

Longtime Companion
by Norman Ren?

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Category: DVD
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DVD details

Actor: Brian Cousins, Bruce Davison, Campbell Scott, Patrick Cassidy, Stephen Caffrey
Director: Norman Ren?
Brand: DAVISON,BRUCE
Cinematographer: Tony C. Jannelli
Editor: Katherine Wenning
Producer: Lindsay Law
Producer: Lydia Dean Pilcher
Producer: Stan Wlodkowski
Writer: Craig Lucas
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: Letterbox, 1.85:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-01-23
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

DVD Reviews of Longtime Companion

DVD Review: Heatwarming Film
Summary: 5 Stars

This film was recommended by a friend for research to learn about the lives of gay men in the early 80s. I was truly moved by this film. The relationships, touching moments and the tasteful way all was portrayed throughout the film. It was quite eyeopening to me as a heterosexual to learn what the homosexual man went and go through when contracting HIV/AIDS and any earlier forms of it. It was the discrimination, racism and lack of respect that was very disturbing to me. I laughed, cried and at points felt their pain. A great movie!

DVD Review: A Brilliant Crier Movie
Summary: 5 Stars

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.

DVD Review: very touching movie
Summary: 5 Stars

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.

DVD Review: Excellent daring movie
Summary: 5 Stars

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.

DVD Review: Captures the times beautifully
Summary: 5 Stars

"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.

Description of Longtime Companion

Hailed as the first mainstream film to put a human face on the AIDS epidemic, Longtime Companion is a "remarkable" (Newsweek) drama that takes an honest, unflinching look at how this devastating disease changes everyone it touches. "Intelligent, unflinching and unpatronizing" (Boxoffice), and starring a "terrific ensemble cast" (Time), including Oscar?(r) nominee* and Golden Globe winner** Bruce Davison, Campbell Scott, Dermot Mulroney and Mary-Louise Parker,this heartrending yet triumphant film "is an illuminating, deeply moving experience" (Los Angeles Times). During the summer of 1981, a group of friends in New York are completely unprepared for the onslaught of AIDS. What starts as a rumor about a mysterious "gay cancer" soon turns into a major crisis as, one by one, some of the friends begin to fall ill, leaving the others to panic about who will be next. As death takes its toll, the lives of these friends are forever redefinedby an unconditional display, of love, hope and courage. *1990: Supporting Actor, Longtime Companion **1990: Supporting Actor, Longtime Companion

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

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