When “gay cancer” started spreading in the early 1980s, so little was known about it, that it was not only terrifying to the gay community that it seemed to be exclusively targeting, but it was terrifying to hospitals and care givers as well. Those on the front lines of care were swaddled in “space suits” …
The Nose. Much hubbub has been made about The Nose. Specifically Nicole Kidman’s prosthetic nose in her role as Virginia Woolf in the film adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s acclaimed novel The Hours. Apparently test audiences didn’t even recognize her in the film, and wondered if they had missed something. But The Nose is hard to …
First things first. Nothing will ever compare to the experience of seeing RENT live on stage. If you were lucky enough to see the revolutionary musical at the Nederlander Theatre on Broadway or on tour (I’ve seen it five times), you’ll know what I mean. However, this DVD experience, especially on a large-flat screen TV, …
Based on Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker Prize-winning novel, The Line of Beauty shows Margaret Thatcher’s 80s-England through the eyes of a wide-eyed young gay man. Nick Guest (pretty Dan Stevens who has appropriately fluffy hair) is aptly named, as he becomes a sort of permanent houseguest of his school-chum’s family. But the Feddens aren’t your typical …
More of a document about AIDS activists than AIDS itself, How to Survive a Plague jumps feet-first into 1987, when AIDS had been around for six years and was spreading in alarming rates, especially in the gay community. New York City was hit hard in the early days, making it a Ground Zero for the …
Set in New York at the dawn of the AIDS crisis, Angels in America is the story of several very different, but closely intertwined, lives. At the heart of the story is Prior (Justin Kirk), a young gay man who has just been diagnosed with AIDS. He reveals the news to his partner, Louis (Ben …
It is hard to disparage a “message movie”, especially one with a topic as important as the worldwide AIDS epidemic. 3 Needles presents three thought-provoking tales (that don’t overlap, except for their AIDS theme) tackling the epidemic. The stories span three continents, but are united in that they contain complicated, morally questionable actions by their …
Now, one of the things I love about going to film festivals is seeing movies “cold”… i.e. glancing over the schedule, eyeing the cast of a film, for instance, and circling it, saying to yourself, “Say, Parker Posey is a funny gal… I think I’ll see this one!” But man oh man, I don’t think …