"I just want to be there, if they ever do find a cure."

August 26, 2015 12:33 PM

An oral history of "Longtime Companion." The first major release movie to deal with the AIDS epidemic, 1990's Longtime Companion focuses on a group of gay friends in New York City, revisiting them one day per year starting in 1981. Bruce Davison won a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

"René’s and Lucas’s response to all this overwhelming sadness was to keep stripping away overly dramatic moments. One of the striking things about Longtime Companion is how funny it actually is, and how often those moments — from Fuzzy lip-synching the Dreamgirls theme to Lisa and Willy discovering a glamorous beaded gown in Sean’s closet — come immediately before or immediately after some of the film’s darkest scenes."

Mary Louise Park on the final scene: "I can’t even really watch that scene now. It was so emotional, it almost risked being called sentimental or something like that. Sentimental sometimes has a negative connotation, but it is in the best way — in the poetic way."

posted by dnash (13 comments total)

Thanks for posting this, it gives me an opportunity to share one of my favorite clips.

And now I see that the clip was in the post. So.
posted by roger ackroyd at 1:39 PM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

The "Let Go" scene (embedded in the article) is just devastating.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:22 PM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]

I wanted to post this, because the movie was a huge part of my coming out. It was released right when I was at the point where I finally decided it was time to stop pretending to be the "enlightened straight guy." I'd read early articles about AIDS right when it started - not the well known New York Times one, (which is part of the first scenes of the movie), but some other early piece that turned up in one of my Dad's science magazines, right at the point where I was internally realizing I was gay. And I remember (12 or 13 year old me) thinking "well, hope they can cure whatever this is before I come out." And I think in some ways I did spend the 80s waiting for "them" to solve AIDS so I could stop hiding and fearing it.

Which is also why that last scene and those words - "I just want to be there" - get me reaching for the hankies every time.
posted by dnash at 2:33 PM on August 26, 2015 [5 favorites]

Thanks for this. I've recently been on a kick trawling the Gay Canon, and after having just suffered through The Boys in the Band (landmark it is; enjoyable it is not) I need something else to dive into.
posted by psoas at 2:54 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

It's well worth the dive. Sums up the time and the feel in an unmatchable way.
posted by blucevalo at 3:14 PM on August 26, 2015

Man, this movie made me cry so hard. I'm not sure I can even read the piece.
posted by lumpenprole at 3:18 PM on August 26, 2015

psoas, if you haven't already, you should watch It's My Party. You'll hate me after you do so but it's exquisite at capturing a specific time.
posted by kalimac at 3:28 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Thanks for the reminder that this is one of my all-time favorite films. I still remember watching the scene in the hospital room and when Willie goes into the bathroom to scrub his face, thinking to myself "My God, he is so terrified." That was the first time that I really understood how much pure fear there was during those dark days. What a powerful and utterly heartbreaking film.
posted by bookmammal at 4:12 PM on August 26, 2015

This movie was (and still is) the hardest I ever cried at a film. Great, great movie; and it came out at a time when it was a brave movie, too. I literally stumbled as I was walking out of the theater, because I was bleary eyed from crying.

Pair this with Parting Glances for a powerful double-feature.

I need to see both again. Now they are period pieces, dear god.

(I haven't seen this since its original 1990 release, which is *OMG* when one of my our newest employees was BORN!!!)
posted by MoxieProxy at 5:16 PM on August 26, 2015

It's a wonderful movie. If you didn't live through that era,or if you did, it brings it all back. So many lost friends.
posted by Sassenach at 6:03 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

I'm also really bothered by the mention in the article that the DVD is out of print, and no streaming services offer it. Netflix offers it as a DVD rental (though it seems like Netflix wants to get out of that business, so how long will that last?)

Who do we petition to get this on Blu-ray or something?
posted by dnash at 6:34 PM on August 26, 2015

I'm crying just thinking about the ending. I often (not sure why) wonder what that character would say now that it has been not cute but tamed to the point of a low grade chronic illness. Is it beach party time? I guess it's wedding party time!
posted by Potomac Avenue at 8:55 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]

Who do we petition to get this on Blu-ray or something?

20th Century Fox handles all MGM Home Entertainment's distribution these days, so probably them. The old DVD was released in 2001, so they're about due. (Region 2 copies look plentiful and much cheaper than Region 1, FYI.)
posted by thetortoise at 10:08 PM on August 26, 2015