Watch Longtime Companion For Free

Sorry, this movie sucks

Best movie ever!

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is more than 20 years ago that I saw this film for the first time. Yesterday I have seen it for the second time and again I was deeply moved by it. For a part it is because of my personal memories of the beginning of AIDS. I had my coming out in 1981, but it was in 1984 that I first heard about the "new disease" – Europe was a few years behind in this respect. Like the people in the film at first I didn't take it seriously, but then I was struck by insecurity. Is it risky to kiss somebody, because HIV is found in saliva too? Looking back I have to be glad that my coming out was not ten years earlier. Otherwise Longtime Companion might have been my story too. Although I knew some people who have died of AIDS, none of them was a close friend of mine.But apart from this personal aspect I think Longtime Companion is a wonderful film, probably the best about AIDS. Like the first time there were two scenes that moved me to tears: the final scene with the fantasy, where the survivors meet those who have gone. And of course the scene, where David tells his dying love to let it go. I didn't know that Bruce Davison got an Oscar nomination for this role, but he had deserved to win.

Longtime Companion, the title of which is derived from the term used in the obituary columns by man men to describe their relationship with their partners who died of an HIV related illness back in the 1980s. The term many were forced to use as either they didn't want it to be known they were gay or that their relationship simply wasn't recognised in any other way.The story revolves around a group of gay men from inter-connecting social circles who frequent Fire Island in New York on the weekends and socialise together. Some of them are in secure relationships, others are more promiscuous, while others are single and looking for love. When you consider it, really no different from your average social group of heterosexuals. In the 1980s of course HIV struck initially very much in the gay community and that's how its effects are felt here, as various characters become ill or realise they have friends who are in the same boat. Some handle it better than others, offering their friends the love and support they need to get through it, while some find the issue harder to cope with.This film is very much the impact of HIV seen through a microscope on just one group of people, it doesn't have the scale of And The Band Played On, but it's not covering those issues. It concerns itself with the direct impact on the gay community and one group of friends. It's hard not to feel their pain and helplessness and the shadow is cast over them while they struggle to cope with events and an illness they don't understand. In many ways, its also a love story among the events that are going on - Campbell Scott starts a relationship with Fuzzy, (Stephen Caffrey) while their community is unravelling. The patriarchs of their group David and Shaun played by Bruce Davidson and Mark Lamos try to make sense of it and reassure their friends only to realise they too may have been at risk. The film quickly jumps into 1982 demonstrating how ineffectual the confusing and limited information was for the gay community at the time. As they story develops some people die, others get involved and others try and effect change by speaking out, but at its heart, its still a drama about a group of friends trying to deal with something they cannot comprehend or understand.Acting plaudits should be levelled all round, but special mention goes to Bruce Davidson, this being the first film I ever saw him in. Dermot Mulroney makes appropriate impact as John one of the first to fall while Michael Schoeffling, an actor who was always underrated, is in his prime here.As one of the first films to deal with HIV, remembering it was made in 1989, this film holds up remarkably well now with a few exceptions a side. Its brave and effecting and is the companion piece to And The Band Played On, which gives the wider perspective on the epidemic. In many ways, Longtime, is the East Coast section that And The Band didn't have the running time for.It shouldn't be viewed as a 'Gay' film, even though its about a gay circle of friends (And their heterosexual friends) because this is as Roger Gail Lyon said - a human issue, not a gay issue. An issue that everyone should have knowledge of.

Longtime Companion draws you into the personal lives of young gay men. We feel what it is like to be held in the grip of fear, to watch friends and lovers die, to experience the prejudice and indifference of the Hetrosexual world, and to comfort the sick and the dying with compassion.By being invited briefly into our community, you'll gain a much needed perspective on what AIDS has meant to gay community and from them you'll learn of the challenges the disease poses to the rest of the world.Longtime Companion lingers in our mind far after the closing credits have appeared on the screen. With its remarkable humor and humanity, this film about love and loss proclaims that caring and compassion are what make us human. It is about all the things that should make us what we are, as a race.

Although topical, this movie is not dated in any way. Set in the late '80s and '90s, the film evinces timelessness in terms of dialog, music, style, set design, and costuming. In fact, the only thing that "dates" the movie is the absence of cell phones and flat-panel monitors. Unfortunately, the biggest miss is excluding larger social institutions and their reactionary background: the President, NIH, etc. But, perhaps, that is the point of the film: to keep the effects of the disease personal and gut-wrenching. Far better than "An Early Frost" and your typical made-for-TV, "disease-of-of-the-week" films. Truly great acting from a well-put together cast of believable and empathetic characters.