the audience applauded

Best movie of this year hands down!

Absolutely Fantastic

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

How often do we come across a film as beautiful & heartbreaking as 'Longtime Companion'? I don't remember the last time I saw a film this affecting & emotionally resonant. This is cinema at its finest. This 1989 film is criminally underrated & features one of the finest yet overlooked performances of its time in the form of Bruce Davison.'Longtime Companion' Synopsis: The emergence and devastation of the AIDS epidemic is chronicled in the lives of several gay men living during the 1980s.'Longtime Companion' is about loving someone & how love can help someone's suffering lesser. We watch many gay men affected & devastated as the AIDS epidemic spreads, within their lives. We watch lovers being tested by an illness that comes & shatters their lives, we watch people suffer & die, but we also watch people not giving up on love & hope, even in such a bleak circumstance such as this. 'Longtime Companion' is about finding humanity & never letting it go. The power of Love is depicted marvelously here.Norman René, the Director of this brave film, also died from complications of AIDS in 1996. Talk about life & its unexpected turns! René's Direction is skilled. Though this was his Directorial Debut, the understanding & the ease in the way he has handled this film, is something to be witnessed. 'Longtime Companion' is pure emotion at its peak. René's Work is truly overlooked & I hope people reading this review, take out time & experience this film. You'll be richly rewarded & moved.Craig Lucas's Screenplay is emotionally empowering & arresting at all times. Rarely a film has defined Love & Humanity with such precision. Cinematography is perfect. Editing is crisply done. Art & Costume Design are well-done. Make-Up credits a special mention.And now coming to Bruce Davison. In a Golden-Globe Winning & Academy-Award Nominated Performance, Davison's portrayal of a humorous, loving & brave man is nothing less of an astonishment. Davison is par-excellence. Watch the scene where he gives a farewell speech to his lover on his death bed, you'll be moved beyond bounds. Davison is masterclass, from start to end. What A Performance! Of the rest of the cast, Campbell Scott, Patrick Cassidy, Mary-Louise Parker and Dermot Mulroney lend remarkable support. Others are great in their respective parts, as well.On the whole, 'Longtime Companion' is Essential Viewing. Two Big Thumbs Up!

Longtime Companion was perhaps one of the very first movies to put a face, heart and soul to the epidemic of HIV/AIDS at a time when movie makers as well as society as a whole, ran as fast as they could away from not only the disease itself, but also those that had it. For that, alone it should be congratulated and celebrated. Head on it tackled the issues without glitz or glamour and with an authentic honesty of emotion and interaction that is quite breath taking.Essentially, Longtime Companion is the story of how life takes a sudden change for a group of gay friends from the very onset of the whole HIV/AIDS crisis in 1981. Back then the New York Times carried an article that mentioned an outbreak of a 'rare cancer' in the gay community, often termed 'gay cancer' which was tragedy in itself as it shielded the actual method of transmission of the illness that was spreading with alarming speed. During the film we travel with the group of friends from the streets of New York to the hedonistic freedoms of Fire Island where the mentality of 'it couldn't happen to me' 'you can't catch a cancer' ruled the heads of many.Nobody was invincible and nobody was immune to the onslaught of this new horrific disease, which is exposed to the full in this highly charged and emotive film. Coming as it did in 1989/90 it was the first time that a vast majority of its audience had seen beyond the all too often misleading newspaper headlines, it was especially heart wrenching. There is not a particular plot line to follow, except watching with tear festooned eyes the lives of a whole circle of friends crumble and falter in the face of illness and death. There are few punches held back, nor emotions left unstirred as the action takes place at a reasonably fast pace. Many critics at the time had issues with the clinical approach of the piece, but those issues are unfounded and groundless. Longtime Companion gives a wonderful vent to the sense of confusion, misinformation and huge sense of loss that existed at the time. It is only with the benefit of hindsight that we see how tragically accurate this was. I firmly believe this should have been mandatory viewing in secondary schools during the early nineties for the way in which it dealt with homosexuality, relationships, and the whole HIV/AIDS crisis from its early beginnings. It would have done so very much more than a pathetic iceberg and a strap-line of 'Don't die of ignorance' that was pretty much all the UK got in the way of warning and advice, One of the amazingly beneficial aspects of Longtime Companion is the matter of fact style of presentation was see the story unfold, some have even said it a shadow of 'documentary' which is no bad thing. We see the lives of men cut down in their prime, of devastated lovers and partners, of a whole community decimated and challenged, which was exactly the reality of the times. Read more and find out where this film made it in the Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time book, search on Amazon for Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time, or visit - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007FU7HPO

At the time of its release, the term "longtime companion" had a different meaning than the one displayed in this film's title: it did not have the connotation that it does now, but was the equivalent to what "significant other" is in our times nearly twenty years later. It certainly carried an aura of gravitas as it defined a romantic but very serious notion that two people were bound together by ties stronger than the sexual and were, truthfully, partners for life, for better or worse.Norman Rene's groundbreaking film LONGTIME COMPANION is that rare act that takes hold of a term, gives it life and new meaning, and is one that has not aged since its premiere in 1990, when queer cinema was barely a blip in the arena and the themes still being explored were the conflicts of coming out (to one's self, to the world), usually with a sordid, semi-exploitative tone. Up until then the only other film that treated homosexuality as a natural occurrence -- complete with a view of the horrors of gay bashing -- was TORCH SONG TRILOGY, which also remains rather contemporary with the times.Like a trip down memory lane, it divides itself in chapters, focusing on the appearance of what was (then) known as the "gay cancer" and crept its way into social consciousness as a fearsome, four letter word we now acknowledge as AIDS. We're introduced to a variety of characters, all realistic in nature, and confront their issues that are commonplace. Friendships are formed, love is exchanged, and all the while bonds are tested as this "thing", this invisible character, becomes almost omnipresent in every sense of the word. A very grim, yet real scene early in the film is one that can't be denied: at a hospital visit, one character (played by Campbell Scott) immediately washes his hands in restrained disgust after greeting a sick friend (Dermot Mulroney) because of the fear of contagion. Counterpointed is a much later, extremely emotional scene involving Bruce Davidson as he says goodbye to his lover and allows him to "let go".It's two sides of the coin, but Norman Rene creates a haunting experience that remains indelible to anyone who has been in those situations. It's in my own opinion one of the finest films about gay men ever done, and it's a must for anyone getting into queer cinema.

Craig Lucas adapted his own play about the confusion and panic over the on-set of the AIDS disease in the early 1980s, as seen through the lives of a circle of gay men in New York. Lucas dives headfirst into the story with minimal introductions, pinpointing the initial awareness of AIDS and the different reactions to personal crises; he doesn't get into the anger--the rage--of the illness, but instead focuses on the quiet sorrow, giving the film a somewhat soft, blurry edge (it isn't a preachy film, which is good, but neither it is gripping). The wonderful cast of actors (with kudos to Mary-Louise Parker as the proverbial indefatigable gal-pal) provides warmth and emotion even as Lucas' screenplay takes curious short-cuts. The early scenes aren't shaped, and much of the handling seems static. However, as we come to know these men, the picture's obvious good intentions give way to moving human drama, leading to a conclusion which transcends sentiment. It's a sure-footed sequence, exceptionally well done. **1/2 from ****