With the century that introduced AIDS to the world drawn to a close, we
can take comfort in knowing that the cure for this devastating disease
will be discovered in the next millennium, and we can hope to see it
happen in our lifetime. Here are a number of films that may help us to
view the disease -- and the people living with HIV and AIDS -- in a new
light.
HBO's adaptation of Randy Shilts's landmark book gives a powerful and angry account
of the early days of AIDS research -- or lack thereof. Starring Richard Gere, Lily Tomlin,
and a who's who of socially-conscious Hollywood luminaries.
Two fatalistic L.A. boys -- one's an impulsive, on-the-edge psycho cutie; the other listens to The Smiths a lot, and likes Godard
movies -- discover they're HIV positive and set about on an unplanned, unhinged serio-comic spree of violence and abandon.
Charting 24 hours before two handsome young NYC lovers part, the film has a sweet tenor somewhat compromised
by the fact that its yuppie protagonists are far less interesting than one subsidary role: Steve Buscemi's
marvelous, antic PWA/artist best-friend.
An inspiring and surprisingly exciting documentary following an all-gay, all-HIV-positive crew of amateur yachtsmen competing in the
gruelling Trans-Pacific yacht race.
This groundbreaking documentary about the lives of a gay couple facing the reality of living with AIDS won the Grand Jury Prize for Best
Documentary at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival.
Two men who have just had unprotected sex develop an intimacy as they discuss everything from AIDS to mis-matched socks.
Winner of the 1995 San Francisco International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Audience Award for Best Feature.
Frank is content with having casual sex with boys he meets on his travels around the world -- until one of his conquests leaves him with the
stark farewell, "Welcome to the AIDS club."
This powerful film, the first feature-length documentary to comprehensively cover the AIDS activist movement in America,
makes clear the emotional and political effects of community activism using the voices of those directly engaged.
John Greyson's Zero Patience is an AIDS musical that is to Hollywood AIDS stories like Philadelphia what Peter Duesberg is to the CDC: an annoyance.
Stubbornly agnostic, beautifully sentimental, this film manages to turn almost every AIDS paradigm on its head.
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