The Worst Film Ever

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

There is definitely an excellent idea hidden in the background of the film. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find it.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

"Parting Glances" is the first gay-themed film I'd ever seen that did not present homosexuality as something to be ashamed of and apologized for - and it didn't have the characters pathetically pleading for tolerance. It did not present the lives of gay men as something exotic, strange or as the subject of some clinical study. It simply presents the characters on the screen as people, dealing with their lives, careers and relationships as best they could in the early, dark days of the AIDS pandemic. I suppose it would hard for me to describe to a younger viewer how much of a revelation this was to us in 1986.While it certainly lacks the rough, edgy quality of The New Queer Cinema works that followed a few short years later, it is their clear cultural and cinematic antecedent.Screening this film for the first time in over a decade last week, it hardly seems dated, where some of the movies that followed seem locked in a specific time and place.As much as things have changed in the 25 years since I'd dragged so many friends to the theater (about a dozen times) to see "Parting Glances," so much has stayed the same... except that I am still alive and so many of those friends have since perished.While I might be accused of seeing the film through a nostalgic haze, I am certain in my opinion that, in terms of gay cinema, "Parting Glances" represents a turning point as important as Welles' "Citizen Kane" or Godard's "Breathless." The difference, though, is that "Parting Glances" didn't just change gay cinema, it helped change how we see ourselves.

Not often do films come across as truly real. Not scripted, or acted but as if a day in the life. In no way could it be described as Over the Top. Steve Buscemi was the reason I bought this. I am a big fan of all of his work and had missed this one. He was good here again. I love how it is so eighties. I was 23 when this movie was made and I could get right into it as if in a time warp.Dated also by the scene where Michael said he needed to get a word processor and the man told him it was around $4,000 dollars and he should wait until the prices fell. Another scene I liked was two deaf men signing at a gay bar. Cleverly flamboyant.I can't add anything that hasn't already been said and said better than me.

Parting Glances tells the story of two gay lovers living in the west village, Micheal and Robert! Robert is about to leave New York to spend a year in Africa, Micheal in the meantime is caring for Nick (Played by a very young Steve Buscemi) a close friend and a former lover now dying of AIDS. Complications arise when it appears that Micheal is still in love with Nick and is questioning his relationship "aka Marriage" with Robert. Also Micheal has captured the eyes of a Columbia student who works at a nearby record store who is very persistent. Robert in the meantime is showing signs of jealousy towards Nick because of his closeness with Micheal. Without a doubt a highlight in gay cinema. Highly recommended! This film shows far more depth and substance in an hour and a half than a whole season of the narcissistic queens on "Queer as Folk"

I really don't have that much to actually say about this movie. Except I thought it was great and handle the issues of AIDS - not by jamming it into our faces, but laughing it up and enjoying life. I really don't have that much to say. See it for yourself, you'll be smiling in the end.