The spread of AIDS, in fiction form. The scope of the action stretches over the entire Eighties, starting on the day when mention of a mysterious "gay cancer" turned up on page twenty of the New York Times -- so that in the early stages of the movie the characters exist in a state of innocent and poignant sunniness (it's July, into the bargain, and many of them are gathered on Fire Island), and the moviegoer brings with him the lowering cloud of Who's going to get it? The subsequent march across the decade serves to document -- for an immediate refresher course and for a permanent record -- the gradual readjustment to the broadening magnitude of the catastrophe: from "I certainly don't think everyone who gets it's gonna die, do you?" (1982) to "Do you think this is the worst thing that'll happen in our lives or do you think Khomeini will take over and we'll all be made slaves?" (1985) and onward. In the later stages, the plot question becomes rather repetitiously and relentlessly Who's next?, and the lives of the characters narrow down to One Thing Only -- as would be understandable, for example, in the case of the soap-opera actor who can't get work when word of his illness leaks out. But the dialogue remains sharp, and the ensemble-playing remains smooth, and there are highly affecting moments all along the way. With Bruce Davison, Campbell Scott, Stephen Caffrey, Patrick Cassidy, and Mary-Louise Parker; written by Craig Lucas; directed by Norman René. (1990) — Duncan Shepherd
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