November 30, 2001 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 21
eveningsout
Four movies and a CD present another view of AIDS
by Anthony Glassman
When people think of movies about AIDS, a few titles immediately spring to mind: Philadelphia, Longtime Companion and An Early Frost, for instance.
However, as AIDS has become an everpresent fact of life in the last twenty years, it has spread out into films that are less known and less mainstream.
Parting Glances
Philadelphia may have been "groundbreaking" and it definitely earned Tom Hanks an Academy Award, but it was what it was: a big-budget Hollywood film. An Early Frost was the first made-for-television film to deal with AIDS, but it was on a major network, and they are seldom known for the quality of their television films.
A year after An Early Frost, the television version of William M. Hoffman's As Is hit cable. The play came out the same year as Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart, but looks at AIDS in a more personal sense; it is more introspective, less political than Kramer's piece.
Rich (Robert Carradine) is diagnosed HIV positive and returns to his ex-lover Saul (Jonathan Hadary). The two examine their lives, the world around them and the disease that may one day take their lives. Along the way, they learn to enjoy life, and take what it gives them.
Gregg Araki's first full-length feature, on the other hand, is filled with the nihilistic, devil-may-care, insane fun that marks all of his films. The Living End was described, when it came out in 1992, as an HIV-positive Thelma and Louise, and there are definite similarities.
Both films have a same-sex duo traveling cross-country on a crime-laden voyage of discovery that snowballs way the heck out of control. The Living End, however, has the same manic desperation that marks most of Araki's films, where things often happen for no reason and the world doesn't make sense, and doesn't have a happy Hollywood ending. For a change, though, the people with AIDS in the film are not victims, not "attractive ill person A" and "attractive ill person B," also unlike Hollywood's gen-
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eral depiction of anybody with a problem.
Another great film, one of the first to deal with AIDS and one of Steve Buscemi's earliest roles, is Parting Glances. Set in New York in 1986, the film deals with the dissolving relationship between Michael (Richard Ganoung) and Robert (John Bolger), two affluent Guppies. Michael is a book editor, and Robert is about to be transferred to Africa for an extended period.
Add in to this mix rock star Nick (Buscemi), Michael's best friend and former boyfriend. Nick is not fond of Robert, and Robert feels just as warmly about Nick. Nick has been infected with HIV, and Michael spends a lot of time over at Nick's apartment,. checking up on him, making sure he eats right.
Of the films so far, this one is probably the best, with the most genuine humor, the most heartfelt emotion, and perhaps the best performances. These include Kathy Kinney's debut, long before she became Mimi on the Drew Carey Show. The depth of feeling in this movie could touch the stoniest heart, and the movie itself stands up incredibly well to the ravages of time. It could have been released a month ago, it is that timeless.
The final film is also the most recent. The 1998 film The Velocity of Gary (not his real name) is a fine display of star Vincent D'Onofrio's talent, as well as a perfect example of his desire to step outside the bounds of typical Hollywood fare.
D'Onofrio plays Valentino, a bisexual porn star who becomes enmeshed in a love triangle with Gary (Thomas Jane) and Mary Carmen (Salma Hayek). Gary has just gotten to the big city, and winds up hustling. Valentino takes him under his wing and into his bed, earning the wrath of Mary Carmen,
The Velocity of Gary
who staked her claim to Valentino long before.
Gary and Mary Carmen must forge an uneasy truce, however, as Valentino's health begins to fail, and AIDS ravages his mind and body.
Finally, on a far more cheerful note, lovers of Christmas carols, showtunes and AIDS benefits take heed.
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Centaur Entertainment, purveyors of more
club music than you can shake a stick at, have just released Home for the Holidays, an AIDS benefit record by Broadway Cares-Equity Fights AIDS.
The CD brings together some of the hottest names on Broadway right now, including Alan Cumming, who won the Tony Award for playing the emcee in Cabaret, Liza Minnelli, Christine Ebersole, Anthony Rapp from the original run of Rent and Lea DeLaria.
All the holiday season favorites are on here, from Cumming and Minnelli doing "Baby, It's Cold Outside" to Daphne RubinVega singing "Feliz Navidad."
If there is any complaint to be made, it's that there are no Hanukkah songs on the album. Nathan Lane doing “Dreidel,Dreidel, Dreidel" would have been good, or perhaps Ken Page belting out "Hanukkah, O Hanukkah."
The CD is, however, magnificent, and it is for a marvelous cause. Broadway Cares has distributed over $54 million for AIDS services since its inception in 1988; they're the people selling signed posters outside shows like Cats and Phantom of the Opera. It will make a marvelous gift, though readers can be greedy and keep it for him or herself. Heck, buy two and give the second one away.
World AIDS Day 2001
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