Parting Glances (1986)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I watched Parting Glances last night after seeing it 30 years ago. I had forgotten how much this movie played a part in determining the course of my life. The power it had over me then came back in a rush last night.I was living in Germany in 1986 and after watching the film I knew I had to break up with my boyfriend at the time return to NYC and get my MBA. After another stint working in Germany post-MBA I met the man who has been my life partner for 22 years now. He grew up on the UWS and I thought he was the most handsome man I had ever met. I returned again to NYC. I hate to say something so cheesy but I felt we were like Michael and Robert in the film - although my love for Curtis hasn't changed in all the time we've been together.The characters and the situation in the movie capture the mood in NYC of the mid-80's - both the good and the bad. NYC has changed so much since then and in many ways I long for what seems to me to have been a freer time and place, despite the tragedy of AIDS that was taking place.

It's about a couple living in NYC--Michael (Richard Ganoung) and Robert (John Bolger). Robert is moving to Africa for 2 years for job related issues. The movies follows the last 24 hours of their life before he goes.There's no real plot but this caught (I heard) just what it was like to be a gay man in NYC in the mid-1980s. They're dealing with AIDS and various other issues but this is not an AIDS drama. Only one character has it (beautifully played by Steve Buscemi) and he deals with it in a humorous way. The movie deals with relationships (gay and straight) and how to deal with the various complications that arise within them. It's beautifully filmed in NYC with a wonderful script and sharp performances. There's also classical music in the background which helps the easy-going mood and feeling. It all leads to a happy (and believable) ending. Definitely a gay classic of the 1980s.This barely got released back in 1986 (it was made on a VERY low budget) and went nowhere but it became acknowledged over the years and is now held in high acclaim. One sad note--writer/director Bill Sherwood died of AIDS in 1990 so we'll never know what he might have accomplished.Well worth catching.

I saw this film shortly after its release and it hit me like a ton of bricks. I went so far as to arrange the Central PA premiere as part of an arts festival in State College, PA. The film resonates with me in many ways, but none so much (and to this day, 2 decades later it brings me to tears) when one character says that the other's beloved has left town and the other says, no, the beloved is YOU. Brilliant and so telling of relationships gay, straight and in between. You cannot be a living, breathing, LOVING human being and NOT see the universality in this film. Also, the depiction of life in NYC in the mid-80s is dead on, much like Ethan Mordden's "I Don't Think We're in Kansas Anymore" series. A slice of life that no longer exists is well represented here. Any one who was out in the 1980s will acknowledge that this is how the "scene" played out for many people.

If you're looking for the best movie about being gay during the height of the AIDS epidemic, skip "Longtime Companion" and watch this film. Funny, sad and true to life. Well written, well acted....check out Kathy Kinney and Steve Buscemi at the beginning of their careers.The movie is never preachy or sappy. And there are some Bronski Beat tunes used to very nice effect.The true crime is that AIDS claimed writer / director Bill Sherwood before he could make another film. This was his only movie - a perfect example of how this disease has robbed the world of a generation of talented individuals.