Longtime Com panion gives viewers
_______too little, too late
___
Film pares AIDS to dimensions of soap opera
BY
ANNDEE
H O C H M A~N
ongtime Companion, the first full -length
movie from a major studio to focus on
AIDS, opens with a tableau of health. The
year: 1981. The place: Fire Island. A young
man sprints along the beach, then peels off his
clothes and bounds into the surf with the
abandon of a child. The camera hunkers in
close as he splashes and grins. Music foams
up in the background like the top of a gentle
wave.
L
You know the rest.
The year: 1990. The place: Oregon, where
454 people have died of AIDS and most of us,
regrettably, know too much to take this movie
for the simple soap opera it is.
In an apparent effort to appeal to
“mainstream” audiences, the filmmakers have
scrubbed the subject of AIDS so glossy and
clean that it’s slipped right out of context.
Longtime Companion, set up as a series of
vignettes from 1981 to 1989, tracks the lives
of eight main characters. Seven of them
happen to be gay men. Five of them happen to
get AIDS. Four of them die. And, if one is to
accept the insulated setting in which all of this
takes place, none of these events are related,
by cause or consequence, to homophobia,
money, classism, media or politics.
Remove that context, and what’s left is a
slippery little movie about eight friends, some
of whom get sick and die, some of whom
learn a few things about compassion and
loyalty, and one of whom speaks up at the end
to tell us What It All Means.
As if we hadn’t spent the last nine years
wondering that ourselves, and finding that no
answer is large enough for the question.
According to promotional material from
Samuel Goldwyn Studios, director Norman
Rene wanted to make a movie about “people
with whom audiences could identify.” And
indeed he has. The characters in Longtime
Companion are as recognizable as Wonder
Bread, and about as interesting.
Sean and David — a TV writer and a
wealthy investor, respectively — share their
Fire Island summer rental with visitors Willy
(our protagonist — you can tell because of all
the close-ups) and his friend John. The
summer of 1981, Willy meets and falls in love
with Fuzzy. This character, with his beard and
shy, goofy manner, shows some promise. But
Fuzzy sheds his klutzy charm as the movie
progresses, leaving him indistinguishable
from the others.
In Manhattan lives another pair — soap
opera actor Howard arid his lover, Paul,
whose job requires crisply ironed shirts and a
secretary. Their next door neighbor, Lisa, is
Fuzzy’s best friend from grade school.
At the film ’s opening, we meet these
characters just as the first story about AIDS
— known then as “gay cancer” — startles
them from page A20 of the New York Times.
Some of them scoff, some worry, some don’t
read the paper.
What’s wrenching about these scenes is
their ability to evoke the time before AIDS,
Live! On Stage! Portland Opera Presents
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II
June 16, 17, * 20, 2 1 , 2 2 , 2 3
Weekdays 7:30 PM Saturdays 8:00 PM
Portland Civic Auditorium— SW 3rd & Market
‘ Special Father's Day Matinee 2:00 PM
Life and love aboard a Mississippi riverboat!
“ OP Man River,” “ Make Believe," “ Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” and
“Bill” — unforgettable melodies of great American Music Theater.
Tickets: $18, $27, $36, $65
Charge by Phone (503) 241-1802
930-5:00 Weekdays
Tickets at Portland Opera, G1 Joe’s TicketMaster,
Civic Auditorium and PCPA ticket offices.
Portland Opera • 1516 SW Alder • Portland, OR 97205
months when the news, often late and
frequently wrong, filtered through the
community and changed life in ways that can
never be changed back. We know this, but the
characters don’t, and the series of sexual
encounters that end the first sequence carry an
ominous punch along with the pleasure of
seeing men embrace and kiss on the big
screen.
By the end of the next section, in 1982, the
camera peers down toward a hospital bed,
where John lies sweating and wheezing into
an oxygen mask. It’s a distant shot — the
disease still at arm’s length from most of the
characters’ lives — but drawing closer by the
moment.
Longtime Companion does a tolerable job
of showing the range of personal responses to
AIDS, from Willy’s frantic hand-scrubbing in
the hospital bathroom of his AIDS-stricken
friend to the New Age-tinted suggestion by a
minor character that people who love
themselves won’t get sick.
W hat’s perplexing about this movie is not
only the way AIDS is stripped of its social
context, but the way the characters themselves
slip noiselessly from denial to acceptance and
compassion. In one scene. Fuzzy tells his
friend Lisa he’d never volunteer at an AIDS
organization and frankly hopes he’ll never
hear the word again; a few scenes later, he’s
taking phone calls at a hotline, with no
explanation for his shift in attitude.
In a series of scenes that seem almost
accidentally well-acted, David rises to the
occasion of Sean’s illness with stoic
determination to make his lover comfortable
Listen, our memories are not that short.
But our tolerance ought to be. If there’s
anyone out there who’s been asleep the last
decade, maybe they should wake up and see
this film. But for the rest of us, who had our
eyes shocked open long ago, Longtime
Companion is more of a benign, brief
acquaintance, telling us so much less than we
already understand.
▼
m
Pre-Planning is the Key
to your final arrangements.
Cremation is the dignified, uncomplicated alternative to a
“ traditional” funeral. By pre-planning with The Heritage
Society, you’ll be assured that your wishes are specifically
carried out. And at a fraction of the traditional funeral/burial
cost.
Today, cremation is preferred by more than 60% of
Europeans, and nearly 50% of Am ericans. And the
percentage is increasing year by year.
There are no embalming or casket charges and the burden
of last minute decision is not left to family or others. Enjoy
the peace of mind that com es with Heritage Society
Membership.
Membership— one-time f e e ....................................... $ 2 0
Current member service fe e ........................... .......... $ 4 0 8 *
*Ask about pre-paym ent.
Call today for free literature. No obligation.
Or simply fill out and mail this coupon.
■
! Name__________________________________ __________________
I Address____________________________ _________________ _____
| City______________________ State_____________ Z ip __________
Phone.
IIKWE5T
A MEMORIAL CREMA TON
ju st out ▼ 2 8 ▼ June 1990
and let him die at home. The exchanges
between these two, as David first tries to
compensate for Sean’s failing mind, and
finally nurses him towards death, evoke tears
and win points for their quiet realism.
On one level, AIDS is about that sort of
purely personal circumstance — a friend who
won’t kiss another friend, a man helping his
lover die. But there’s another level, too, and
it’s entirely missing from Longtime
Companion. In an effort to play safe
politically, this film has no politics at all. No
one gets blamed; in fact, hardly anyone even
gets angry. In the final scene, Willy, Fuzzy
and Lisa discuss a protest that suggests ACT
UP-style activism, but the conversation is so
casual viewers might miss the hint.
The film ends in the setting in which it
began — the beach at Fire Island. Fuzzy (now
shorn of his beard), Willy (he’s added a
moustache — see how times change?) and
Lisa walk in the sand. In contrast to the
movie’s bubbly opening, the mood now is
sad, contemplative.
“It seems inconceivable, doesn’t it? That
there was ever a time before all this?” Willy
asks.
SOCIETY
Portland 243-1343
211 Oregon Pioneer Bldg
Portland. OR 97204-2672
Salem 581-1343
Vancouver 256-2323
.
*
I
|