Parting Glances

Parting Glances

Let’s go all the way tonight
No regrets
Just love
We can dance
Until we die
You and I
Will be young forever
Katy Perry ~ Teenage Dream

If any of you out there have Netflix on your Wii or PS3 or XBOX you can watch this one instantly just like I did. It’s been a while since I caught this movie all the way through and I admit it’s not one of my all time faves.

I probably should be more into this movie since it is pretty well made and there are several actors that went on to do bigger things like Mimi from The Drew Carey Show and Carl from Fargo and and… I am sorry I just can’t get into this film as well as others that are usually mentioned in the same breath like Longtime Companion and Angels In America.

I think those are full on AIDS films. I mean they put AIDS and it’s physical effects front and center and display it with not much to soften the blow. Can Parting Glances really be called an AIDS film if the two main characters it focuses on Michael and Robert do not have AIDS? In fact the one guy in the movie that does have AIDS Nick has more than enough energy to run off to Fire Island and make threatening phone calls to his best friend and ex-lover Michael knowing the idiot will come running.

That is one of the big things about this movie I disliked… The relationships! The manipulation you see from Nick and Robert towards Michael just plain sucks. You do not get that much background information in this flick about either of their relationships or how they came about or ended but from what we do see I think both of them have used Michael in order to do whatever they wanted despite how that might hurt him.

It’s not just about Robert running off to Africa to “get away” that turns me off to him and Michael as a couple it’s the whole setup even down to Michael feeling it necessary to personally take care of Nick that seems to be focused on everyone else and what they want and Michael comes dead last in both these cases.

A welcome mat for a main character, how sweet.

Anyway, ignoring all the relationship trauma I do like the subtle take of this film and how it steers clear of the usual boring coming out setup or the typical “wisdom of the dying gay guy” stuff. It seems to be more about what AIDS “did” to the Gay Community as a culture.

Nick talking to the young kid in the stairwell underlines what this movie is really about in my opinion with his going on about how he and Michael partied their way through New York and how he misses those good old days. I think this movie is in some ways about all those stupid flashbacks and saying farewell to the promises of youth after the reality of age and experience come crashing down.

A very different and universal subject unfortunately I wish they would have given that promising storyline more room here than the relationship drama which did not work for me. It’s a good movie and all that for how early it was 1985. I just wish it had more mature issues and less toxic relationships I would have never put up with.

Tags: Movie