by Murtada Elfadl
Do most people think of how their stories will be told? Probably when they are closer to the end. That’s the question at the heart of 1985. The greater question it poses is how does someone make sure they are are remembered as their whole self when society has conspired to muffle their voice?
The film tells the story of 20 something New Yorker returning home one last time to his small hometown in Texas before succumbing to death from AIDS. Adrian (Cory Michael Smith who's appeared in Carol and Wonderstruck) knows he’s dying so he tries to patch up things with his loving but disapproving religious parents (Virginia Madsen and Michael Chiklis), create memories and a connection with his preteen brother Andrew (Aidan Langford) and finally own up to a former girlfriend (Jamie Chung) who he’s never come out to...
Do most people think of how their stories will be told? Probably when they are closer to the end. That’s the question at the heart of 1985. The greater question it poses is how does someone make sure they are are remembered as their whole self when society has conspired to muffle their voice?
The film tells the story of 20 something New Yorker returning home one last time to his small hometown in Texas before succumbing to death from AIDS. Adrian (Cory Michael Smith who's appeared in Carol and Wonderstruck) knows he’s dying so he tries to patch up things with his loving but disapproving religious parents (Virginia Madsen and Michael Chiklis), create memories and a connection with his preteen brother Andrew (Aidan Langford) and finally own up to a former girlfriend (Jamie Chung) who he’s never come out to...
- 10/25/2018
- by Murtada Elfadl
- FilmExperience
Prepare to break out the handkerchiefs several times during writer-director Yen Tan’s “1985,” a deeply emotional tearjerker and family story set in a year when an HIV diagnosis was effectively a death sentence. This is a realistic, discreet, yet exploratory film that earns its tears honestly and scrupulously.
Gay, closeted, and HIV-positive Adrian comes home to Texas for Christmas for what he knows will probably be the last time. Tan’s camera keeps a polite and empathetic distance from Adrian and his parents Dale (Michael Chiklis) and Eileen (Virginia Madsen), both of whom are very religious, and his little brother Andrew.
The set-up of this story admittedly doesn’t sound too promising, and the very grainy black-and-white cinematography might be a problem for some viewers, but “1985” is a film that is full of virtues, not least the acting talent of its cast, who are all expert at conveying a lot...
Gay, closeted, and HIV-positive Adrian comes home to Texas for Christmas for what he knows will probably be the last time. Tan’s camera keeps a polite and empathetic distance from Adrian and his parents Dale (Michael Chiklis) and Eileen (Virginia Madsen), both of whom are very religious, and his little brother Andrew.
The set-up of this story admittedly doesn’t sound too promising, and the very grainy black-and-white cinematography might be a problem for some viewers, but “1985” is a film that is full of virtues, not least the acting talent of its cast, who are all expert at conveying a lot...
- 10/24/2018
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
NewFest, the New York-set Lgbtq film festival that is celebrating its 30th year, has unveiled its full linuep of movies ahead of its run October 24-30. As previously announced, the fest opens with Yen Tan’s AIDS drama 1985 starring Gotham‘s Corey Michael Smith, The Gifted‘s Jamie Chung, Aidan Langford, Virginia Madsen and Michael Chiklis.
This year’s slate includes the New York Centerpiece screening of the Matt Smith-starring Mapplethorpe; the Telluride-bowing Boy Erased starring Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe and Lucas Hedges as the U.S. Centerpiece; and the International Centerpiece Rafiki, Wanuri Kahiu’s pic that has been banned in its native Keyna for centering on a relationship between two women.
Also on tap is the Documentary Centerpiece film Dykes, Camera, Action. The fest will close with Robert Clift and Hillary Demmon’s Making Montgomery Clift.
This year’s lineup features programming from 32 countries, with 46 feature films,...
This year’s slate includes the New York Centerpiece screening of the Matt Smith-starring Mapplethorpe; the Telluride-bowing Boy Erased starring Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe and Lucas Hedges as the U.S. Centerpiece; and the International Centerpiece Rafiki, Wanuri Kahiu’s pic that has been banned in its native Keyna for centering on a relationship between two women.
Also on tap is the Documentary Centerpiece film Dykes, Camera, Action. The fest will close with Robert Clift and Hillary Demmon’s Making Montgomery Clift.
This year’s lineup features programming from 32 countries, with 46 feature films,...
- 9/21/2018
- by Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
"You left home just as soon as you could." Wolfe Releasing has debuted an official trailer for an indie drama title 1985, the latest film made by Malaysian-American filmmaker Yen Tan. This premiered at the SXSW Film Festival and a number of other film festivals this year, so it definitely has some clout and acclaim. 1985 stars Cory Michael Smith as a closeted young man living in New York City in 1985, who heads home to his Texas hometown for Christmas during the first wave of the AIDS crisis. There he reconnects with his brother and friend, and attempts to have a real conversation with his religious parents. Starring Virginia Madsen & Michael Chiklis as his parents, along with Jamie Chung, Aidan Langford, and Bryan Massey. This was shot in high-contrast black-and-white on 16mm, which connects it even more with the setting and adds another layer of dramatic tension to the storytelling. Check this out.
- 8/28/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Gay fests are currently showing a restoration of the late Arthur J. Bressan Jr.’s “Buddies,” a microbudgeted drama that arrived in 1985 as the first-ever narrative feature about the AIDS crisis, one resolutely from the viewpoint of the already hard-hit gay community. A few months later network TV waded in with the acclaimed “An Early Frost,” which like most early mainstream treatments of the subject took a perspective designed to soften up AIDS-phobic Middle America — that of “respectable” parents coming to terms with their sons’ homosexuality as well as probably terminal illnesses.
Bridging the two 30-odd years later is Yen Tan’s fine “1985,” which expands on ideas first explored in his short of the same name two years ago. This excellent drama presents an ’80s flashback perhaps even more uncomfortably familiar to many gay men who survived that era than the stricken Manhattan of “Buddies” or the upscale suburbia of “Frost.
Bridging the two 30-odd years later is Yen Tan’s fine “1985,” which expands on ideas first explored in his short of the same name two years ago. This excellent drama presents an ’80s flashback perhaps even more uncomfortably familiar to many gay men who survived that era than the stricken Manhattan of “Buddies” or the upscale suburbia of “Frost.
- 6/28/2018
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Yen Tan’s emotionally wrought AIDS drama “1985” will see a theatrical rollout from Wolfe Releasing this October, the company announced Wednesday,
The distributor is also eyeing an awards push for lead Cory Michael Smith (“Gotham”), an individual familiar with their plans told TheWrap.
Well-reviewed out of this year’s SXSW Film Festival, the black-and-white film follows a young man who visits his Texas hometown at the holidays for potentially the last time, as he battles the disease at the height of its historical mortality rate.
Also Read: Hollywood So Straight: Studio Films With Lgbt Characters Dropped to Record Low Last Year
“Smith has the kind of very severe male beauty and moral gravity that distinguished the leading men in Jacques Demy’s movies from the 1960s. He has the ability to suggest profound levels of decency and despair while also somehow never losing an astringent quality that keeps some of...
The distributor is also eyeing an awards push for lead Cory Michael Smith (“Gotham”), an individual familiar with their plans told TheWrap.
Well-reviewed out of this year’s SXSW Film Festival, the black-and-white film follows a young man who visits his Texas hometown at the holidays for potentially the last time, as he battles the disease at the height of its historical mortality rate.
Also Read: Hollywood So Straight: Studio Films With Lgbt Characters Dropped to Record Low Last Year
“Smith has the kind of very severe male beauty and moral gravity that distinguished the leading men in Jacques Demy’s movies from the 1960s. He has the ability to suggest profound levels of decency and despair while also somehow never losing an astringent quality that keeps some of...
- 6/20/2018
- by Matt Donnelly
- The Wrap
Wolfe Releasing has obtained the theatrical distribution rights to writer-director Yen Tan’s Texas-set family drama 1985 following its world premiere at SXSW this year. Gotham‘s Cory Michael Smith stars alongside Oscar nominee Virginia Madsen (Sideways), Golden Globe winner Michael Chiklis (The Shield), and Jamie Chung (Fox’s The Gifted). The pic is set for release in October. Inspired by Tan’s short film of the same name, the plot follows Adrian (Smith), a closeted young man returning to his Texas hometown for Christmas during the first wave of the AIDS crisis. Burdened with an unspeakable tragedy in New York, Adrian reconnects with his brother (Aidan Langford) and estranged childhood friend (Chung), as he struggles to divulge his dire circumstances to his religious parents (Madsen and Chiklis). Producers are Ash Christian of Cranium Entertainment and HutcH of MuseLessMime Productions. The deal was negotiated by Jim Stephens, President of Wolfe Releasing,...
- 6/20/2018
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Bringing a short titled 1985 to South by Southwest only two years ago, writer/director Yen Tan is back at the festival this year with the feature version. Starring Cory Michael Smith, Virginia Madsen, Michael Chiklis, Jamie Chung and Aidan Langford, the film follows Adrian (Smith), a closeted young man who goes home for the holidays, coming into collision with his family over his sexual identity and struggling to reveal his dire circumstances to them. “In a nutshell, it's…...
- 3/10/2018
- Deadline
If the Oscars’ shut-out of the French film “Bpm (Beats Per Minute)” is any indication, Hollywood is still put off by AIDS films, no matter how brilliant. “1985” is arresting in the same way as Robin Campillo’s epic portrait of Act Up Paris, though its story is much quieter. Set in Texas, “1985” follows a young man named Adrian (Cory Michael Smith), who returns to his small Texas hometown to visit his family for Christmas. It’s clear in the weighted silences and stilted small talk that Adrian hasn’t kept in close touch with his religious family.
He stands tall over his brusque father (Michael Chiklis) at baggage claim, as they try to remember the last time he was home. His mother (Virginia Madsen) greets him warmly, though her pleading to call up his estranged childhood friend Carly (Jamie Chung) clearly bothers him. His younger brother Andrew (Aidan Langford) is...
He stands tall over his brusque father (Michael Chiklis) at baggage claim, as they try to remember the last time he was home. His mother (Virginia Madsen) greets him warmly, though her pleading to call up his estranged childhood friend Carly (Jamie Chung) clearly bothers him. His younger brother Andrew (Aidan Langford) is...
- 3/10/2018
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.