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Review: In ‘1985,’ a Young Man Hides a Plague From His Family
- 1985
- NYT Critic’s Pick
- Directed by Yen Tan
- Drama
- 1h 25m
The AIDS crisis, which will remain a global crisis until a definitive cure for the disease is found, is no longer at the foreground of our culture. The film “1985” is a moving cinematic sketch of a HIV-infected man living through the height of the plague.
Written and directed by Yen Tan, the Malaysia-born filmmaker whose 2013 “Pit Stop” was about a conflicted gay man in contemporary small-town America, “1985,” is shot in a somber but rarely drab black-and-white. Mostly set in a suburb of Fort Worth, it follows Adrian, who left his evangelical Christian family to work in advertising in New York, as he visits home for the first time in three years.
Greeted, if that’s what you can call it, by his gruff, taciturn father (Michael Chiklis) at the airport, he’s met at home by his mother (Virginia Madsen), who’s almost desperately radiating affection. His younger brother, Andrew (Aidan Langford), in his early teens, seems irritated with him.
Adrian is gay, but not out to his folks. He’s also not well; AIDS has taken several close friends from him, and he’s recently learned that he too has contracted the virus. When Adrian discovers that Andrew is secretly listening to Madonna cassettes — secular music is forbidden in the house — the bond the brothers now share is overshadowed by the dread Adrian has nursed since the movie’s first shot.
The meticulously composed movie sees Adrian negotiating with his nerve and his fear. A catch-up with an initially angry ex-girlfriend (Jamie Chung) painfully demonstrates how hard a time he has really trusting anyone.
Cory Michael Smith’s performance as Adrian is a quiet marvel in a movie that’s superbly acted all around. The film’s intimate consideration of still-enormous issues is intelligent, surprising and emotionally resonant.
Follow Glenn Kenny on Twitter: @Glenn_Kenny.
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes.
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