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Amos Lassen wrote on 04/02/2011:

One of the most acclaimed gay themed films of all time is finally available on DVD and we have Strand Releasing to thank for that. “The Living End” is not only a classic film; it is in a category of its own basically because it ushered in the new age of queer movie making. This is also the film that brought Greg Araki the place he so rightfully deserves in the canon of gay cinema.
“The Living End” is not a film for everyone but if you are someone who respects audacity and independence, there is much to be gained here. It is a priceless low budget film with is saturated with talent, vigor and playfulness while undertaking a very serious issue. Greg Araki is a very odd kind of director because he manages to maintain his own singular individuality and he does so with a great sense of class.
Two men, both HIV positive, one extremely sensitive (Jon), the other a hustler, Luke, who is totally free thinking are finding ways to live in a world that seems not to care if they exist or not. The movie opens with Luke scribbling graffiti, “Fuck the World” on a wall. He seems to have given up. The two begin a road trip to the west where they try to find anything that is worth their time. As they roam, we examine the difference between sex and love and study the relationship between the two men which becomes more and more complicated as the film progresses. Luke’s attitude gets them into trouble on many occasions and Jon is willing to forego love in order to be able to continue his life responsibly and for as long as he can. That the two men love each other is obvious but they seem to exist under a cloud of sadness.
The film is the cutting edge of the 90’s and the dialog is brutally honest. The movie has humor which is frightful as the two boys go on what is their final trip. The two guys violently protest anything and everything—they are extremely angry. At the time the film was made it was considered radical to the nth degree. We did not have gay characters on TV and today the movie seems quite mild. It is when we put it in its historical context—pre-“Ellen”, pre-“Will and Grace” and pre-“Brokeback Mountain”—that we see what an important film it is. The production values are pretty bad and when taken out of that historical context, many will consider it to be mediocre at best. At the time it was made, it was something that was completely different. Dealing with HIV, AIDS, and teen rage, we get two gay anti-heroes who, while not being role models, who come across not as negative stereotypes from the way straight society looks at them. There is no attempt to present political correctness especially in the way sex and violence are linked together. A character study of the early 90’s and docudrama, “The Living End” tells it like it was. There are times when the film philosophizes and times when it is completely abstract. As the lives of the two characters are explored, we are presented with a surrealistic and exploratory journey which reminds us of a time now past. All of us knew a character like one of the men in the film. This case study in human nature is at times uncomfortable but it does show that AIDS still is not an important priority of our government, at least not to those suffering from the disease. Realistic and serious, this is a stark and unbridled look at what happens when lives are lived with little hope,
A word about the ending without giving it away—it is horrific and brutal and even though the film had to end this way, when you actually watch it, it will affect you deeply.
I have read many bad reviews about this film and I suspect that they were written by either those who did not live through the period or by those who compare this to Araki’s later and more refined films. This was Greg Araki’s first film and as a debut it must be looked at for what it does present and not foe what it omitted. I found it shattering and beautiful but, then, that is my opinion.

yawnmower (yawnmower1@juno.com) wrote on 06/25/2003:

Probably the greatest -- and angriest -- film made involving men who are HIV+. Gregg Araki's dedication to the thousands of men who have died and those who will die, and the Republicans in the White House (Bush I) who don't care, at the end of this tremendous film, says it all. But, in the meantime, we are treated to a modern love story between Jon (Craig Gilmore) as a gay SF film critic who has just found out he is HIV+, and Luke (extraordinary Mike Dytri), a stunningly handsome, street-wise trouble-magnet. They fall in love and, having nothing to lose, set off on a surreal and darkly comic crime-spree together -- Thelma and Louise with a twist. The road of love is rocky but, in the end, they have each other. You won't be left unscathed, or untouched. It's high time for this low-budget classic to come out on DVD.