Review

A tremendously important and stirring film about the AIDS crises. Longtime Companion is an exceptional look into the lives of a group of gay friends and how the disease affects them. Those of us born before the mid-sixties probably remember with horror when they first learned of the "gay cancer" that would change our lives, both for the better and the worse. For New Yorkers it was the article which appeared on Saturday morning in The New York Times that described the appearance of Kaposi's sarcoma in gay men, a disease previously thought to infect only elderly Jewish men. This remarkable film begins in 1981 and ends in 1989 charting the change in the characters, from carefree innocents enjoying their sexual freedoms to men numbed by suffering, forced to cope with the death of friends and lovers, and mobilized into action. In its twenty year swath of destruction AIDS has decimated the arts and gay communities. AIDS not only brought us death, but wisdom about life and activism with an intelligence and fierceness to be long remembered in history. Longtime Companion, was the first major film to chart this territory and is essential for that reason. The terrific ensemble cast includes Campbell Scott and Dermot Mulroney, but Bruce Davison must be given a special mention for his superlative portrayal of the lover who slowly watches his longtime companion succumb.

Vito Russo (The Celluloid Closet)as quoted in The Advocate: "It is the first major movie to deal with gay men and AIDS; it doesn't try to explain gay life to a mainstream audience; and it contains more affection and intimacy between men than virtually any other film in recent memory."