This film is refreshing because it addresses the generational gap between those who lived through the plague before the HIV cocktail was deemed effective and those who came of age afterwards.
The protagonist is not a sympathetic character. He is unable to move beyond the era of his AIDS activism, to develop new relationships or to adapt to new social movements. The trauma of his 20s and 30s is unresolved. He treats everyone badly; he does not discriminate on gender, gender identity or race. I am not troubled by the slow pace of character development because his inflexibility is a function of his age. He does learn to juxtapose his experience with contemporary gay life. He also is able to find some resolution to what he has lost.
I would contrast this film with the generational conflict in When We Rise, the recent television mini- series.
The protagonist is not a sympathetic character. He is unable to move beyond the era of his AIDS activism, to develop new relationships or to adapt to new social movements. The trauma of his 20s and 30s is unresolved. He treats everyone badly; he does not discriminate on gender, gender identity or race. I am not troubled by the slow pace of character development because his inflexibility is a function of his age. He does learn to juxtapose his experience with contemporary gay life. He also is able to find some resolution to what he has lost.
I would contrast this film with the generational conflict in When We Rise, the recent television mini- series.