attack on leningrad , or just leningrad , is a 2009 war film written and directed by aleksandr buravsky , set during the siege of leningrad .

attack on leningrad

attack on leningrad is a really bad film . where is spider - man ?
there are no critic reviews yet for leningrad ( attack on leningrad ) . keep checking rotten tomatoes for updates !
the world war 2 battle of stalingrad from the initial attack to the repatriation of the survivors after the war .
i was staggered at just how appalling the acting is in this movie . as the blogger suggests , no wonder it went straight to dvd . having read the superb antony beevor book detailing the attack on another russian city , stalingrad , i was hoping for a fine cinematic recreation of events in respect of the attack on leningrad albeit intertwined with the heroic deeds of british journalist , kate davis . sadly , it really is atrocious .
the deputy secretary says with three months of siege around leningrad two million russians will die . and that will be the end of leningrad .
thanks for the comments though , they ' re much more eloquent than in some of the previous posts and i don ' t wish to disregard your view of the film . unfortunately , attack on leningrad was not for me . if it moved you to such a degree though , who am i to argue against that .
amazing … i watched this film streamed on netflix last night . this series of comments has gone on for 3 years . amazing .
the siege of leningrad lasted 882 days . over 1 , 500 , 000 people died . on january 27th 1944 , leningrad was liberated by the soviet army . nina tsvetkova was killed during a nazi air raid in 1943 in leningrad . kate davis continued to share her food rations with yuri krasko to keep him alive . she became so weak that she died in 1943 .
some soviet official in leningrad now goes to that false address , but realizes that the address is wrong .
…the same in interview regarding stalin intention on leningrad populations . what nonsense ! even during nazi blocade , leningrad was a serious producers of arms , some of their have been supplied for red army in stalingrad ( ! ) . besides , it was the important strategic and political centre of soviet union etc .
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soviet storm : world war ii — in the east . ep . 5 . the siege of leningrad . starmedia
gorkin thinks the germans are retreating and starts to chase them , but all of a sudden huge german tanks go to the attack . the civilians start running as some of them get run over by the tanks . the lieutenant grabs a grenade and runs in front of a tank and throws the grenade right at the most vulnerable spot on a german tank , just below the turret .
tsetkova tells kate that from now on , she doesn ' t know her . after all , on paper kate is already dead . if kate survives , good . she adds :
do your best .
kate talks to tsvetkova about her going back and bringing yura out . tsvetkova , however , tells kate that she has to go back to leningrad , but that they won ' t let her come out again . kate says goodbye to sonia ' s little girl and then gets on the truck with tsvetkova going back to leningrad . she yells goodbye to a bewildered phil .
i have never witnessed a review on here have so many trolls . it almost seems as if they all worked or had friends and family who worked on the production of this and we personally insulted them with this review .
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an air raid siren sounds in leningrad and tsvetkova and the others have to make sure people get down into the air raid shelters .
the siege of leningrad is one of the unspeakable atrocities that the germans committed during wwii . hitler had the idea to starve the people of leningrad within a few weeks , maximum two months in order to gain superiority on the eastern front . the siege lasted 872 days . leningrad was a big city of almost 5 million people at the time . at least 1 . 5 million died during the siege . i was interested in this topic since i had read helen dunmore’s excellent novel the siege . it’s a daring book from a master storyteller . i had hoped for an equally good movie ( the movie is not based on dunmore’s book ) .
for my part i stayed on my appetite as a movie but was glad to know the story of kate davis .
yura develops a bad stomach ache . he starts throwing up the food . kate goes in to check on yura .
the wwii pivotal battle of stalingrad is shown through the eyes of the soldiers and officers on both sides of the war .
a guide shows the foreign reporters a tiny bit of the battlefield with a ruined tank and dead soldiers on the ground .
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what a moron . get another job and give away writing your opinions on films . you haven ' t got a clue .
leningrad communist party hq ( smolny ) . food is running out in leningrad . the journalists are there , including kate davis . the journalists are to be divided into two groups to lessen the danger of all the foreign correspondents being wiped out at once . phil and kate wind up in two different groups .
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the men follow gorkin in the attack . it seems fool - hardy because the nazi soldiers are already attacking them . the two groups meet together and the fighting is intense . one civilian tries to creep back to the trenches but tsvetkova yells at him to go back . she shoots at him twice to warn him that she will kill him if he doesn ' t turn around . he turns around , while tsvetkova gets out of the trenches yelling :
no more retreating ! enough ! for the motherland ! for stalin ! for leningrad !
its been getting a lot of hits , i think someone must have posted it on an aleksandr buravsky ' s fan forum or something .
phil arrives back on a different bus and he immediately asks what happened to the kate ' s bus ? the fellow running the operation with the foreign correspondents says that her bus was hit by german airplanes . he says he ' s sorry and goes on about his business .
tsvetkova returns to the apartment to find her mother dead . she cries over her mother . people are dying in leningrad and the bodies are lying in the streets .
stalin and his military staff decide to send out from leningrad three groups of soldiers , twelve in each group to immediately
foot - search across the lake
.
also , ryan cone , who goes on rambling nonsense about the us , must not realize that the reviewer of this is from the uk .
i do get surprised that people so passionately disagree with me on this film as i really disliked it , but each to their own i guess .
i think it depends on which eye you look at the movie . as a history lover ( found of wwii ) i can notice many historical
clips
of the siege , like the sugar bomb , eating glue , cannibalism , the ladoga survival trail and more but for someone wishing to learn about leningrad , it ' s too fast and we can ' t learn enough ; the story is focus on kate davis , and even there , it still uses
clips
on the true stuggling of starvation like if they were afraid to show more , so this gives an impression of a tv series and an uncompleted work .
a war drama set during the nazi invasion of the soviet union in june 1941 , in which soviet troops held on to a border stronghold for nine days .
i agree with you the british journalist line is unconvincing and it twists a russian story itself . on my opinion , this production was created to intend on western media market too , so the filmmakers took a couple of western stars and write the western person plot… i think that buravsky , unfortunately , gave in to western producers…
when in 1941 nazi germany invaded the soviet union , their troops quickly besieged leningrad . foreign journalists are evacuated but one of them , kate davies , is presumed dead and misses the plane . alone in the city she is helped by nina tsvetnova a young and idealist police officer and together they will fight for their own survival and the survival of the people in the besieged leningrad .
not exactly an honest reproduction of the siege of leningrad , but an honestly , active film of how it might have been . press / media people tend to annoy me anyway , so if one blonde gets trapped in leningrad , then i could not really care less , but the often simulated , harrowing scenes are good to watch . i am glad i have seen it though .
gen . von leep estimates that leningrad will be finished in about three weeks . and the situation in leningrad is very terrible . kate took anastasia ' s ring to exchange for some food for yura . anastasia complains to tsvetkova about the theft . when kate returns , tsvetkova forces her to put her hands on the wall . the can of meat she traded for falls to the floor . tsvetkova questions kate saying that she is a spy . of course , kate easily argues that accusation away . meanwhile , yura consumes the meat from the can .
up on a lookout tower , tsvetkova yells down that the germans are digging in . she is ecstatic yelling :
we ' ve stopped them ! ! !
star gabriel byrne and faithful old armin mueller - stahl – nice line up . interesting subject matter too , i don’t know much about the siege at leningrad myself , should be thought - provoking .
gen . von leep comes out to the airport . he is with his nephew walter , who is a first rate pilot . uncle tells walter to be thinking of getting that second cross medal . walter asks if hitler has decided not to wipe leningrad off the face of the earth ? uncle replies that the change of plan has to do with the meaningless resistance of the russians in leningrad .
winter , 1941 . world war ii rages on as nazi troops invade the soviet union and besiege the devastated city of leningrad . foreign journalists are quickly evacuated , but in the chaos that ensues , kate davies ( mira sorvino ) is left behind . isolated and alone , kate joins up with a small band of resistance fighters , and together they battle to survive .
a romance between a british pilot hiding in germany and a german nurse is shown on the background of massive allied bombing of dresden towards the end of world war 2 .
good movie and a sad one . the germans have virtually surrounded leningrad and are slowly starving the city residents to death . there are scenes of great suffering among the residents of the city , including a case of cannibalism . i always wondered what exactly happened at leningrad and now i know . we always hear about the great victory of the soviets at stalingrad , but not much of anything about the other cities like leningrad and moscow . the film is also a love story between two foreign war correspondents in leningrad . and it ' s a story about the love of a family for each of its members and even about friendship that becomes love for the suffering children of the family . some of the everyday people of leningrad become real heroes when they stand up for right against wrong , while many others around them are engaging in theft and other criminal acts . the film kept my interest throughout and i liked every bit of it . mira sorvino ( kate davis ) was good and olga sutulova ( nina tsvetkova ) was excellent in their roles .
when in 1941 nazi germany invaded the soviet union , their troops quickly besieged leningrad . foreign journalists are evacuated but one of them , kate davies , is presumed dead and misses the . . . see full summary »
central telegraph office , moscow . the situation with the food is that only one in twenty barges with relief supplies makes it to leningrad . german planes bomb and strafe a dock where men are off - loading supplies .
kate keeps typing her story of leningrad under siege . she tells sonia ' s two children that she gave the wrong address in her note to her colleague . the kids talk about it being their time to die .
because , compared with movies with very stupid subject matters which raise tens of millions of dollars in the us , it is regretful that such a movie received little to none consideration . but then again . . it is the us where people know very little about world history , and where the main focus is on grand productions and millions spent on effects and other things .
i found this movie on netflix and had no preconceived notions other than the expectation that it was an actual movie . this is not a movie . it is a hodgepodge of scenes of which 60 % were intended to be in the final cut , 40 % were intended to be left on the editing room floor , and all of which were arranged in no particular order .
winter , 1941 . world war ii rages on as nazi troops invade the soviet union and besiege the devastated city of leningrad . foreign journalists are quickly evacuated , but in the chaos that ensues , kate davies ( mira sorvino ) is left behind . isolated and alone , kate joins up with a small band of resistance fighters , and together they battle to survive . mpaa rating : r rated r for violence .
the trucks stop and everyone gets off . phil looks for kate . they see each other and they come together . they hug . tsvetkova comes up on the lake bank with two girls .
gabriel byrne and mira sorvino star in another love story about two western journalists that are trapped in the siege of leningrad in 1941 . imdb’s plot description , written by the director , make it seem really over the top romantic . i have trouble believing all these people were worried about romance when they were starving to death . if the plot summary turns out to be historically accurate , these westerners must have seemed very self—involved and silly to the leningrad citizens .
* keeping the thread alive * i woke up in the middle of the night and this movie was playing on netflix . i missed some of the film and the sound was muted but i have to say i liked the film . i thought it touched on the lives of people during a tragic time of war ( the images of the people dragging the wrapped up bodies – chilling ) and yes , i took it as a love story with katie choosing to return to leningrad with nina . the relationship confirmed by the scenes of them celebrating the end of the conflict and parker visiting their side - by - side graves at the end .
leningrad , two weeks later . the city continues to be shelled and bombed . an official tells his men that foreign reporters are coming and there are to be no bread lines that they can see . among the men is sgt . tsvetkova .
great film loved it . tells of the struggle of the russian people in leningrad . it ' s so good that once it watched it and put it in with the rest of my dvd ' s i realised it was my second copy .
walter flies over leningrad . it ' s his turn to dive down and strafe the streets . walter flies straight for the russian anti - aircraft gun . the gun fires and hits walter ' s plane - - suicide by anti - aircraft gun .
tsvetkova returns alive . only eight of the skiers returned to leningrad . now the soviets are trying to evacuate the skiers to safety . then the trucks will return with food supplies . the trucks are ready to pull out , but tsvetkova says she must get her family . kate grabs the last of their food and tells the kids they are going to get on one of those trucks . the problem is that everyone is so weak that they can ' t get outside .
as far as i am aware it’s ‘inspired by true events’ . obviously the siege of leningrad actually took place and i believe there was a british journalist that survived it and wrote about it , but i imagine a few liberties have been made for the film .
brought out in a bus , kate takes photographs of the dead german faces . when asked , she says she is not freaked out because she worked on the crime beat for two years and saw lots of dead bodies .
kate ' s colleague informs the russians that kate is still alive and in leningrad . he now wants to fly back to leningrad to get her , but the official tells him to go catch a flight out - - he will take care of kate . kate stands outside her apartment building . someone grabs her food coupons . she tries to chase after the thief , but falls over a raised piece of earth . she sees a man cutting off the leg of a dead person to engage in cannibalism in order to survive .
an official explains the desperate food situation for the residents and soldiers of leningrad . the last food will run out in nine days . stalin is shocked by the low number of days , but resigns himself to it saying :
nine days it is then .
the actual proper original title of this movie is simply leningrad . why could they not have just left it alone ? it depicts the hardship of leningrad at the time quite accurately . my main disappointment with this movie was that mira sorvino ' a voice was dubbed by a british voiceover actress - and this was done in an obvious way , thus ruining the actress ' s performance . it would have been better had they just gotten an english actress in the first place . apart from that it was a credible portrayal of the time .
it’s a shame that financial reasons sometimes impact movies negatively . i was just reading where george clooney was forcced into “the thin red line” because the studio insisted on a big name star . thus we get the ridiculous closing scene .
why invent a story like that when there was such a lot of material at hand ? accounts of eye witnesses , for example . in the interview buravsky mentions the famous russian composer shostakovich who was in leningrad during the siege where he composed his 7th symphony . wouldn’t that have been a great story ? or what he said about stalin… apparently he could have freed leningrad much earlier but decided against it . he deliberately let them starve as leningrad , the former st . petersburg , the home of the tsars was the center of the intelligentsia and the arts . in doing so he could get rid of people who were undesirable in his regime… a dictator like stalin was certainly not fond of intellectuals and artists or other people who were used to thinking for themselves . that would have been a great story as well .
i could go on , but i don’t think it’s worth it . this is the sort of film that is best forgotten . it had a lot going for it . ok , so mira sorvino and gabriel byrne don’t have spotless cv’s , but they’ve got talent and the production team clearly know how to dress and shoot a film . unfortunately , any potential the film had is flushed down the toilet on a wave of half - arsed filmmaking and embarrassingly bad performances .
let’s just have a peak at some other reviews though before i start… huh , none at all . surely it’s hit the festivals if it didn’t get a proper cinema release… hmmm , not really . straight to dvd then , ok , let’s give it a chance . hang on , made in 2007 , yet no one’s seen or released it yet . alarm bells ringing , but i’m not a snob , let’s do these struggling filmmakers a favour , let’s put it on .
now the civilian replacements ( businessmen , workers , old men - - it ' s quite the collection of different men ) are brought over . lt . gorkin is shocked at the low caliber of
soldiers
he has been sent . he yells at sgt . tsvetkova saying that he did not ask for professors and students ! the sergeant shoots back that he is to take his men and attack . the lieutenant responds :
shut your mouth , you snot - nose brat !
she in turn grabs her pistol and places the barrel up to his neck saying :
i have my orders too , lieutenant .
gorkin pushes the pistol away and goes to work .
i didn ' t hear about this being released in the united states , so i don ' t know if it’s failed to find a distributor , or is a foreign—language film . sorvino studied languages in college and can speak chinese , but i don ' t know about russian . i also don ' t know that byrne speaks russian either . perhaps they were dubbed into the russian dvd version released in february 2007 and american viewers will just have to wait . in the mean time , here’s a really good book on the leningrad siege :
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tsvetkova gives kate a typewriter so she can write her reports . the two women drink some vodka , listen to music and dance . tsvetkova asks kate for advice about men . after that , she tells kate that none of them are going to get out of leningrad alive . the blockade will never end .
but if you look with the eye of the human drama and forget the cinematography , history , quick details , and embrasse davis ' combat to keep those she cared about and her sacrifice knowing it is based on a true story , then you can be touched .
an opera singer , anastasia andreevna , owns the house where kate is staying . her servant tells her that the store refused their coupons today and the only thing she could get on the black market was an onion . the cost of the onion was two fancy earrings .
september , 1941 , russia , three months into the war . leningrad suburbs . a couple of army trucks are trying to use the muddy road on a rainy day , while a man and woman up front yell at the fleeing refugees to move out of the way and let the army vehicles pass . the trucks stop and men with rifles jump out of the back of the vehicles . the men are brought to the trenches where fierce fighting is going on . the trenches are not deep enough to provide good protection from the bullets of the enemy . the lady yelling for people to get out of the way speaks with lt . gorkin . she tells him she is sgt . tsvetkova and she brings him the new orders . the lieutenant asks if they have run out of men and are now sending women to fight ? the sergeant explains that the messenger was killed .
i would say though that i thought olga sutulova ( nina ) was great ! she is actually the character that connects the viewer to the feeling of the people in leningrad during that difficult time . olga was just excellent which surprised me that she was in a film called the arena , some low budget rated r flick .
i’ve never witnessed a post get so many random comments . i’ve wondered if many of these folks leaving comments are people who are related to this film in some way ( worked on it , knew somebody who did , etc . ) . it brings some very , very strange responses .
in 1941 the german invasion of russia leads to the siege of leningrad , a two year long military campaign designed to literally starve the city . in the midst of the suffering an english newspaper reporter finds herself trapped , unbeknownst to her american reporter boyfriend , between the german guns and the soviet security system that cannot admit it erred in reporting her dead .
kate sits on a bench outside and has a delusion that phil is there telling her to get on the airplane . a little later she has more delusions . she sees sonia still alive and calling to her . as she slowly walks down a street a man who has a car sees her and recognizes her . it is the journalist korneyev that was picking up souvenirs when a bomb went off . somehow , he , like kate , survived . he tells her to get in the car . there is a plane she can get on with him . kate gets in and they drive by her apartment building . she tells the driver to stop . kate gets out of the car . her colleague begs her to get back in the car , but she goes to get the children . she is so weak that she can ' t climb the stairs . her colleague has to drive away in order to make the plane .
the german planes arrive over leningrad and start doing their damage . at the same time planes drop bombs in the area of the bus . the russians try to get all the correspondents back on the bus , but kate is delayed as she yells at a reporter named korneyev who is busy grabbing german war souvenirs , to stop it and get to the bus . it ' s too late , kate is caught out in the open and as the bombs start landing she has to run away from the bus . she yells to her colleague to get away from the wreckage , but it ' s too late . a bomb lands near him and blows him away from the wreckage .
glad i didn ' t come here first or we ' d have missed a really good film . ok the production was more ' made for tv ' than spielberg – but so what – it was a genuinely engaging and rewarding watch – based on an individual ' s true story that was certainly worth telling .
lol . for real – what is so hard to understand here for these people ? never have i witnessed such bizarre backlash to one of r3 ' s reviews – almost as if it is the director of the film himself coming on every once in a while under a different name to defend his own movie .
annual siege of leningrad commemoration day , 1965 . a white - haired phil and sima walk along the sidewalk . yura rushes up to them and greets sima and then introduces himself to phil . phil is a little shocked because he did not think yura had survived . they go to a memorial wall where they see the name of tsvetkova nina konstantinovna , 1915 - 1943 .
still , for people who have never heard or are not very familiar with the siege of leningrad this movie is a good opportunity to learn something about it . and it is watchable . the russian cast is very good , the pictures are very nice but all in all it’s a lost opportunity for something that could have been better than average . 3 . 5 / 5
you can ' t review a film on the strength of it ' s source material though . yes it was an horrific event , but it ' s not like this film uncovered the facts , they ' re quite well known these days and i imagine there are several other films and documentaries that better handle them .
i was born in leningrad and have several grandparents who experienced this seige . i was dissappointed that the excellent actors who were in this movie , including several russian actors , were not given a chance to fully shine in their roles . this movie could have been great for the depiction of this event but failed as the director does not appear to want to make this a great work .
if it is based on a “true story , ” it’s a story worth telling , but this film chops it up in too many short clips . the plot ends up seeming highly improbable . nina’s motivation for saving kate is never made clear . the film is definitely lacking in continuity . i agree that olga sutulova gave a stand - out performance , while mira sorvino seemed out of her depth . trying to tell the personal story within the context of the war seemed to be too much for the director to handle . even so , this film adds to an understanding of what the people of leningrad endured . the image that will stay with me is of people slowly pulling sleds holding the wrapped bodies of their dead .
thanks for your comment , alexander . it’s disappointing he gave in to western tastes or marketing strategies . anything related to leningrad is so interesting in itself that i don’t know why it had to be twisted like this . i’m not even sure it was a success in western cinemas at all . thanks for mentioning blokada . i’ve heard of it but forgot about it . i’m going to look for it .
i ' m perfectly open to criticism , my negative replies are only aimed at idiotic comments like robin west ' s where no attempt is made to qualify their statements . if you like the film , good on you , but i ' ll only show interest if you give me a decent reason . mike for instance made some interesting comments .
robin , write something more substantial please . why is the reviewer a moron ? the review tackles several aspects of the film and dissects them properly . how about an opinion rather than a cowardly cheap shot . oh right , you probably have no idea how to put together a grammatically correct paragraph on anything . there are services for people like you .
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on the surface it looks promising , the production design is impressive enough and it’s quite well shot . the opening scene is even pretty good if a little overwrought , where we witness the final stand between the germans and the remaining russian forces surrounding the city . unfortunately , the glossy visuals and the hollywood cast rub shoulders with dialogue , special effects and ott music straight out of a cheap tv movie . in fact , some comments on imdb suggest that this could be a trimmed down version of a russian tv miniseries . a few plot strands feel too brief too , which back up this theory . tv roots are no excuse for poor quality though , as some of the outstanding work coming from the hbo stables will prove .
thanks for the more detailed comments mike , rather than the fan - boy insults that have come in the past . however , i want to try and clear this up once and for all . watch the scene below starting at 0 . 40 with the young boy and mira sorvino . here is proof of some of the shoddy performances i ' m talking about . yes the film looks pretty , the subject matter is powerful and granted , most of the native cast do a fairly decent job , but anyone speaking english is embarrassing and that kid grates on me so much it ' s untrue . those of you who i think i ' m being harsh on a child performance should bear in mind that he ' s in a hell of a lot of the film .
i agree with what david said it being half baked although film was not the best , it wasn’t the worst either there are alot of good this about it , it had potential for me it really got the look and the feel of leningrad during that time . the biggest problem i had with it only problem i have with it was mira sovino’s acting ! its just horrible accompanied by her ridiculous , obvious english accent ! you just cant feel her characters desperation
i agree with what david said it being half baked although film was not the best , it wasn’t the worst either there are alot of good this about it , it had potential for me it really got the look and the feel of leningrad during that time . the biggest problem i had with it only problem i have with it was mira sovino’s acting ! its just horrible accompanied by her ridiculous , obvious fake english accent ! you just cant feel her characters desperation
the people are slowly starving because there is so little to eat . the little chess playing boy , yura , just laid on the couch the whole day and didn ' t redeem his food coupons . his mother gives his sister three slices of bread , but yura only one . maybe she thinks yura is going to die soon . kate goes to his room and gives him a piece of chocolate .
david – i can understand and agree with much of what i think you’re saying – hammy acting by the kid – sort of trite scenes like when the policewoman puts on lipstick and asks the guy to kiss her hoping to experience the rather remarkable description from the blonde about making love with the one you love ( which by the way i thought was a very risky , potentially cloying scene but that nonetheless i thought rather poetic ) .
now tsvetkova ' s boss finds out about the white general being the father of kate davis . he trips tsvetkova walking in the snow and she plops down on a heap of snow . he tells her what he found out and says that there is somebody hiding the woman , probably out of ignorance . but now that everyone knows , anyone harboring this kate davis will be a crime against the people . he walks away from tsvetkova .
in my opinion the film is worth watching , though it is true that you can find now and then the usual flaws of international productions . it seems to me that they have changed the script to fit the international cast in it . nonetheless , the dramatism and the hardships od life in leningrad are accurately portrayed . i don’t find the story of the children cheesy at all if you think that 1’5 million people died there ( though it was a bit of a cliche that the kid was a chess master… )
the plot tries to present the story of kate , a british journalist who is inadvertently trapped in leningrad during the infamous seige of world war ii . ideally , the film would be about the atrocities of war , the will of the human spirit , and the connections forged between people who face life - threatening adversity . but this is not at all what happens . weaving and interrupting kate’s tale of struggle is a bunch of two minute side stories that leave the overall pace of the movie alternating between extremely pedantic and choppy .
the boss asks tsvetkova to put her gun and gun belt on the table . he then asks her where is the correspondent ? tsvetkova refuses to answer because she is afraid that the boss will just kill kate . she finally says that the englishwoman is still in the side car of the motorcycle . when they see the motorcycle , kate is not there . tsvetkova says that she must have run away . the boss warns tsvetkova that she is playing with fire . tsvetkova goes home and talks with kate .
the thread that never dies , right david ? i read these comments before watching the movie and my expectations were pretty low . i think the problem with this film is that its rich visually with a director of photography who has talent , but everything underneath it reminds me of a cheap made for tv movie . the profound subject matter adds some credibility to ones overall viewing experience but it in the end the visuals and the historical importance can’t rescue it . it didn’t work on so many levels except for the cinematography .
agree 100 % with the reviewer . the film lacked continuity , scenes were disjointed , there was a weird contrast between the violent drama of the action scenes and the woodenness of the people scenes . i have read a lot about the war on the eastern front and spoken to many who fought there , and felt it deserved better treatment than this . more information could have been built into the film to give the viewer more history , for example , maps and troop strengths , but so many opportunities were missed . a woeful effort .
kate is still alive . she must have fallen into a bomb crater . she sees a truck coming , rushes out to the road and collapses . the truck just stops in front of the body in the road . meanwhile , phil hears the announcement that all foreign correspondents must get on the plane now because they have to get to moscow before dawn . . the truck that picked up kate is filled with russian peasants . they are shocked when kate speaks in english . one woman tells the others that this girl is not russian .
a bomb drops near tsvetkova and a loud group of protestors protesting that the bread rations have been cut once again . the people think that it is not a bomb , but something sent to them by the germans . they want to go over and look at it . tsvetkova tries to hold them back , but they just get closer and closer . tsvetkova says it ' s a bomb on a time delay . the people want to find out for themselves . all of a sudden the bomb goes off killing quite a few people .
moscow , hotel savoy . a band and a singer perform for a large group of dancers at the hotel savoy . among the dancers are phillip parker , a foreign correspondent , and kate davis , also a foreign correspondent by for right now having to be the telegraph operator . kate thinks she is going to get to go to the front with phillip , but he tells her he tried , but there ' s just no way she can go to the front . this makes kate mad and she stops dancing with phillip saying that she forgot about her real dancing partner . her parting shot is that she will see phil in leningrad .
i didn’t like the movie ( i had a feeling it was half baked ) but i would disagree with “joe” - if you would have remembered some history of ww2 you would have realize that nina’s actions in the opening sequence were nothing but an act of desperate humanity ( sort of like the kamikaze ) . that is if leningrad were taken by the nazi much more civilians would die and suffer . ( after all “operation barbarossa” was only the means for setting a so called “new order” . to do this heinrich himmler , head of the ss , was assigned to implement the enslavement , expulsion , and extermination of slavic population ) . p . s . sorry – my english is still not good
agree with your comments . i have been trying to pinpoint some of the events in the firm , e . g . the apparent transport ( for approved persons ) from st petersburg to ? ? ? . if it was from st petersburg to moscow , there was a problem of passing through nazi occupied territory . if it was via finland , this would be impossible , as finland was allied to the axis . and if american diplomatic privilege was involved , all the action would have had to take place between august and december , when pearl harbor brought the americans into the war . i was around at the time , more personally involve with the nazi blitz on the uk .
i bought this dvd purely ' on spec ' as a result of a long interest in the russian front . basically i buy anything connected with that subject which looks even vaguely interesting and is not over - priced . in this case i was pleasantly surprised . the cover of the dvd does not do the film any justice at all with what seem to be american planes strafing the hapless city . what type of aircraft they are , or to which side they belong cannot be determined , but surely a better jacket could have been designed . that being said this is a very worthwhile human interest story of a young woman caught up in possibly the worst siege in modern history after returning to russia , the land of her forbears , as a journalist just before the beginning of the war only to find that she is far from welcome in the first place .
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the story of the final seven months in the life of german field marshal erwin rommel .
great patriotic war , early 1940s . after barely surviving a battle with a mysterious , ghostly - white tiger tank , red army sergeant ivan naydenov becomes obsessed with its destruction .
the story follows a group of german soldiers , from their italian r & r ; in the summer of 1942 to the frozen steppes of soviet russia and ending with the battle for stalingrad .
a group of russian soldiers fight to hold a strategic building in their devastated city against a ruthless german army , and in the process become deeply connected to two russian women who have been living there .
during ww2 the russian army sent a special group named
zvezda
to fight the nazis in their backyard .
american soldiers lost behind enemy lines during the wwii make a horrific discovery : hitler has a super bomb in development . against all odds , they set out to find the scientist in charge of the program who is looking to defect .
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) . let’s do a bit of research first though i think . well , it stars oscar winner mira sorvino ,
it’s a painful experience to watch . i don’t mind a bit of cheesy acting and naff dialogue if a film has fun with it , but when the subject matter demands that it takes itself seriously , everything just falls apart . in a film where children starve to death and people cut off the flesh from bodies in the street just to survive , you feel nothing because the scenes are so bluntly handled and hammily performed .
knowing the history behind it , spotting obvious inaccuracies… it is still such a powerful and tragic story that had me wiping away the tears and feeling so terribly heartsore for the suffering of 1 . 5million people . i didnt stop to wonder or think the acting was rubbish . the message it set out to convey – was received . without criticism . and for those who don ' t know much about the seige , they have been astounded , shocked , horrified to learn about a piece of history to which they were previously ignorant about . nobody mentioned the lack of acting ' skill ' .
david , i ` ve seen the film and i liked it very much . first 5 minutes of it were very boring , only for me i hope , but after that , i just couldn ` t stop watching it ! this film is very good in my opinion , yes could have been better but it ` s also ok the way it is . the story , the actors , are ok in my point of view . they acted just like in real life , it ` s nothing bad in this !
wow , i must have been watching a different movie , because i thought this was one of the cheesiest , most embarassingly badly acted films i ' ve seen in a long time . why do you guys think a film with some reasonably well known stars like this took 3 years after completion to get released and then went straight to dvd ?
fred apparently only likes reviews that coincide with his opinion . but just because a story is worth telling doesn ' t mean that it will translate to a good film . i ' d read the history book instead . if it ' s a serious flim with hammy performances , that is something very difficult to overlook , unless it is doing something completely cutting edge and original otherwise to be in awe over .


longtime companion is a 1989 film with bruce davison , campbell scott , patrick cassidy , and mary-louise parker .

the first wide-release theatrical film to deal with the subject of aids , the film takes its title from the words the new york times used to describe the surviving same-sex partner of someone who had died of aids during the 1980s .

longtime companion

bruce davison and mark lamos filming longtime companion at botel in may in 1989 .
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longtime companion ( screenplay ; adapted from his play ) , samuel goldwyn , 1990 .
june 4 , 1999 : hilda mae snoops , schaefer ' s longtime companion , dies .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing longtime companion near you .
despite its accolades and prominence in queer cinema , longtime companion has faded into virtual obscurity among younger audiences .
may 1986 : with longtime companion hilda mae snoops at his side , schaefer declares his candidacy for governor .
it ' s no coincidence that ' ' longtime companion ' ' only becomes urgent when it becomes specific and idiosyncratic .
we’d love your help . let us know what’s wrong with this preview of survived by her longtime companion by chris paynter .
rob olver reviews the early aids film longtime companion ( 1989 ) and says “i can’t recommend this movie highly enough . ”
he was the longtime companion of david quarles . survivors are his mother , camille scott , and a sister , mary jamison .
“ longtime companion is about friendship and loyalty about finding the courage to be helpful and the humility to be helped . ” — urltoken
editor’s note : longtime companion is still confusingly not available anywhere . we wish our readers luck in finding a copy somewhere out there .
upon the release of the normal heart , we look back at 1990 ' s longtime companion , one of the earliest cinematic depictions of aids .
featured in bird on a wire / last exit to brooklyn / back to the future part iii / cadillac man / longtime companion ( 1990 ) . see more »
i drooled over adam “a twink in wolf’s clothing” nathan something rotten when i first watched parting glances , which i saw before both an early frost and longtime companion .
orson welles with longtime friend roger hill . ( photo courtesy of todd tarbox ) .
the cast members reunited in 1995 in los angeles to be presented with the video industry aids action committee ' s ' longtime companion ' award , honoring aids awareness , education and care .
in her life : she was predeceased by her husband , carroll cole , two sons , warren cole and charles macpherson , a grandson , clayton cole and her longtime companion , leonard sargent .
@ brian jc kneeland : an early frost was a made for tv movie . it was great , but longtime companion was the first film that got a distribution deal to play in movie theaters .
the men in
longtime companion
may seem to belong to a culture far different from what many people are accustomed to , but their tragic circumstances are easily identifiable . much of that connection comes from the overall quality of the movie ' s ensemble acting , particularly bruce davison as david , whose devotion to his stricken
longtime companion
sean ( mark lamos ) is an act of love approaching heroism .
in this fashion , ' ' longtime companion ' ' may be more prescient than it knows . this self - absorption is what makes the movie so tough to take , so depressing , not the grim subject matter .
by the new york times the “first mainstream american film about aids , ” the drama longtime companion , which was released in 1990 . longtime companion , which was written by playwright craig lucas , both starts and ends at the beach . in the final , iconic scene three of the movie’s protagonists—one of the central couples and their female friend—envision being joined by their friends who were lost to the disease . it’s a moment , scored by the
though ' ' longtime companion ' ' is the first theatrical film about aids , it is hardly the first fictional word on the subject . it follows , among other things , larry kramer ' s rudely angry play ' ' the normal heart , ' ' and television ' s ' ' early frost , ' ' which , like ' ' longtime companion , ' ' is slick fiction but of a far more effective if more sentimental order .
talking about
longtime companion ,
rene said he believes general audiences will find identification with the characters .
the experiences that these people are going through are universal . death is something that happens to . . .
the flaws in
longtime companion ,
which opens the laguna beach festival of arts '
windows onto an american landscape
series tonight , have always seemed a little insignificant in light of the movie ' s subject .
' ' i hope it ' s a she - that would be very important to me , ' ' mr . allen said of the child he and the actress , mia farrow , his longtime companion , are expecting .
“funny , touching and vital , longtime companion is the best american movie so far this year . it is also , astonishingly , the first major feature to detail the gay community’s battle against the aids epidemic . ” — peter travers , rolling stone
one of the particular strengths of
longtime companion
is that it does not identify its characters only through their sexual preferences . it would seem bizarre to watch a movie in which heterosexual men were defined only by the fact that they like to sleep with women - but many films about gays have made the opposite error , and limited their characters as a result .
longtime companion
is about friendship and loyalty about finding the courage to be helpful and the humility to be helped .
heart tugging ending of
longtime companion ,
as the friends imagine the end of aids and seeing friends they ' ve lost come running torward them on the beach . the song is zane campbell ' s
post - mortem bar .
though it was made when the crisis was still ongoing , longtime companion now doesn’t have the urgency as hbo’s the normal heart , which has the power to galvanize a viewer thanks to kramer’s unrelenting will to fight . but longtime companion accomplishes what it set out to do : show what it’s like when a community of friends is forced to face widespread , persistent death . it’s also an important piece of history , as a movie that was made about aids when no one was making movies about aids .
review : an american playhouse production , longtime companion is one of the few mainstream feature films to deal directly and seriously with the subject of aids and its specific impact on the gay community . as such , its intentions and message are largely unimpeacha… ( more )
more than a quarter century later , longtime companion remains both an essential film in the history of the epidemic and an enduring portrait of grief and loss . yet in recent years , longtime companion has fallen into an undeserved obscurity : it’s currently not available on streaming platforms , and the dvd is out of print . so on the 25th anniversary of its release in theaters , we wanted to look back on the film and talk to the cast and crew about their remembrances of making one of the earliest movies about life in the plague years .
though it was made when the crisis was still ongoing , longtime companion now doesn ' t have the urgency as hbo ' s the normal heart , which has the power to galvanize a viewer thanks to kramer ' s unrelenting will to fight . but longtime companion accomplishes what it set out to do : show what it ' s like when a community of friends is forced to face widespread , persistent death . it ' s also an important piece of history , as a movie that was made about aids when no one was making movies about aids .
anthony jannelli ( cinematographer ) : you would open the new york times every single day and see on the obituary page a story about a young person dying at age 32 or 40 , and the very last line would always be the same : survived by his longtime companion .
survivors include his longtime companion , deyanira murillo ; sons , victor , luis , benjamin jr murillo ; daughter , zorayada galvan , two brothers , two sisters , twelve grandchildren and seventeen great grandchildren . benjamin was preceded in death by two brothers , four sisters and a daughter .
*
longtime companion
screens tonight at 6 and 9 p . m . at the festival forum theatre on the festival of arts grounds , 650 laguna canyon road , laguna beach . tickets : $ 4 and $ 5 . information : ( 714 ) 494 - 1145 .
its “bronze” awards were for the companion silva vs . sonnen event program and the winter 2012 / 2013 cover of the fashion magazine v .
a movie doesn ' t have to mention everything going on in the world to convince the audience of its awareness . ' ' longtime companion ' ' appears to be as self - absorbed as its characters . it ' s as if the rest of america didn ' t exist .
he is survived by his parents , henry d . and katharine n . winslow of cambridge ; a brother , henry n . winslow of north weymouth , mass . , and a sister , katharine w . herzog of glastonbury , conn . his longtime companion was harris m . sarney .
director photography ( feature films ) including longtime companion , 1989 , billy bathgate , 1990 , silence of the lambs , 1990 , new york stories , 1988 , ( camera operator ) house on carroll street , 1986 , something wild , 1986 , compromising positions , 1985 , chud , 1983 .
july 1998 : longtime state comptroller louis l . goldstein dies at age 85 , shortly before election filing deadline . within days , schaefer enters race .
the auction is to offer most of the art and furnishings from mr . mapplethorpe ' s manhattan loft , including the remaining pieces from the collection of sam wagstaff jr . , mr . mapplethorpe ' s longtime companion , who died of aids in 1987 . mr . mapplethorpe died of aids in march .
businessman and former investment firm ceo , creator of the annual chicago humanities festival , longtime leader of national and state cultural commissions promoting the arts and humanities .
he is survived ,
the obituaries sometimes say ,
by his longtime companion .
the phrase is taken by everybody to mean
lover ,
but newspapers prefer the euphemism , and only in the age of aids have they even finally admitted that homosexuals do not live , or die , alone .
norman rene ' s
longtime companion
is a film that begins on the day when an obscure story in the new york times first mentions a disease that seems to be striking homosexual men , and it ends after aids has profoundly affected all of their lives - mostly , but not entirely , for the worse .
wlodkowski : i counted once in my address book — and then i threw it out because it was so depressing — that there were 22 people that i had crossed out who had died . to some extent making [ longtime companion ] was kind of almost healing , a way to address all the pain and all that loss .
most of the time the movie is too general . the young men , all handsome , seem interchangeable . until the advent of aids , life is a series of enchanted evenings . that stranger in the night might be tomorrow ' s longtime companion . the movie reflects the characters ' own estimate of things , which is limited .
longtime companion concludes with a sequence some may dismiss as too sentimental , a fantasy reunion among the living and the dead . beneath the scene’s obvious wish , though , is a subtler one — a wistful longing for the days when gays were liberated not just from oppression but from fear . longtime companion is both an unsparing chronicle of the aids crisis and an up - to - the - minute portrait of a gay community that has grown rife with terror , compassion , and a palpable yearning to return to a more carefree time . the film says that , as long as there are people who have to live with that kind of fear , it’s everyone’s tragedy .
longtime radio talk - show host , pulitzer prize - winning author , oral historian whose published interviews chronicle 20th - century life in the words of hundreds of ordinary americans .
the biograph is concluding its national gay and lesbian film tour ' 91 this weekend . the festival includes short films and features from all over the world , with several programs each day ; see film repertory listings for details . the series closes sunday with robert epstein ' s and jeffrey friedman ' s oscar - winning
common threads
at 7 and norman rene ' s
longtime companion
at 9 .
companion ' s
bruce davison has been nominated for an academy award for best supporting actor .
“longtime companions” probably served a good purpose in its day but , i prefer zero patience by john greyson . attaching “major hollywood film” to companions doesn’t make it the better story .
if longtime companion was one of the early movies to dramatize aids , it was also the rare film to present gay men as normal , unremarkable people — all of them living , as lucas described it “ rather quotidian middle - class lives . ” that’s why it was perhaps ironic that a lot of the men in the cast were actually straight .
longtime companion is best when depicting mourning and loss . it’s anchored by an oscar - nominated performance by bruce davison , who delivers a heartbreaking monologue to his dying lover . and while the movie does show how the disease was responsible for physically and mentally deteriorating people , it doesn’t come close to showing the full extent of the medical horrors it inflicted .
rene and lucas do let their concern veer to teary sentimentality at several turns in
longtime companion ,
and their anger over society ' s neglect smacks of sermonizing . this is , however , a film that is intended to take drama into the arena of awareness , and the rhetorical sway isn ' t anything the movie - makers apologize about .
being the first didn’t ensure rave reviews . “‘longtime companion , ’ directed by norman rene from a screenplay by playwright craig lucas , isn’t much more than a moderately competent melodrama , ” dave kehr wrote in the chicago tribune . “yet as the first mainstream fiction film to openly solicit an emotional response to the aids crisis , it fills an important social role . ”
longtime companion directed by norman rené was released to universally positive acclaim . the title itself is a reference to the term that newspapers solely used in that time period to refer to a gay partner in obituaries . many praised the film for its depiction of real issues affecting the gay community , rather than succumbing to typical and saccharine storytelling . review our gay themed films here
longtime companion is best when depicting mourning and loss . it ' s anchored by an oscar - nominated performance by bruce davison , who delivers a heartbreaking monologue to his dying lover . and while the movie does show how the disease was responsible for physically and mentally deteriorating people , it doesn ' t come close to showing the full extent of the medical horrors it inflicted .
although aids cut a devastating swath in the creative professions throughout the 80’s it is perhaps surprising that , released in 1989 , longtime companion was the first wide - release film to relate what life was like in the early years of the aids epidemic in america . it was preceded only by the tv movie , “an early frost” and the excellent but obscure , “parting glances” .
born march 12 , 1931 in peoria to walter scott and pearl a . ( matthews ) davis , she first married edmond schonert in 1950 . she later married corbin alexander . she married john alfs on december 31 , 1982 in pekin . he died on april 30 , 1996 . she also was preceded in death by her parents and a longtime companion , ernie wileman .
on this day in 2011 , after 16 years on the run from law enforcement , james “whitey” bulger , a violent boston mob boss wanted for 19 murders , is arrested in santa monica , california . the 81 - year - old bulger , one of the fbi’s “ten most wanted” fugitives , was arrested with his longtime companion , 60 - year - old . . .
lindsay law ( executive producer , longtime companion ) : “we’d done a [ tv ] movie version of craig’s play blue window , which is how i’d met both of them… . it got some notice , and suddenly they were able to have those kinds of meetings . [ but ] if they brought up a gay storyline , that did indeed shut down the whole conversation . ”
an american playhouse production , longtime companion is one of the few mainstream feature films to deal directly and seriously with the subject of aids and its specific impact on the gay community . as such , its intentions and message are largely unimpeachable . artistically , however , it leaves something to be desired . the film opens on july 3 , 1981 , the . . . read more
born march 12 , 1931 , in peoria to walter scott and pearl a . ( matthews ) davis . she first married edmond schonert in 1950 . she later married corbin alexander . she married john alfs on december 31 , 1982 , in pekin . he died on april 30 , 1996 . she also was preceded in death by her parents and a longtime companion , ernie wileman .
this ensemble piece centers on a group of gay men in 1980s new york city whose lives are changed by the puzzling new
gay cancer .
the first film to have aids as its main subject , longtime companion is a powerful mix of historical realism and bittersweet drama . winner of the sundance audience award and numerous supporting actor accolades for bruce davison , including an oscar nomination .
rené’s and lucas’s response to all this overwhelming sadness was to keep stripping away overly dramatic moments . one of the striking things about longtime companion is how funny it actually is , and how often those moments — from fuzzy lip - synching the dreamgirls theme to lisa and willy discovering a glamorous beaded gown in sean’s closet — come immediately before or immediately after some of the film’s darkest scenes .
hired to work on a biography of the late film star , daphne demonet , bailey hampton arrives to conduct an interview with eleanor burnett , daphne’s
longtime companion .
to bailey’s dismay , she learns eleanor has set up a co interview with bailey’s ex - partner , chelsea parker . estranged for eleven months , the two women hide their painful memories and strain to be civil to one
longtime companion
is about aids and the effect the disease has on three gay couples and their constellation of friends . as we watch one after another die during the course of the 1990 film , the cinematic equivocations tend to become secondary . you give the movie some slack because it ' s so timely and because you know the story reflects the pain that ' s out there .
longtime companion is the story of the effect of aids on a group of friends and lovers over eight years . it opens in 1981 with the characters reading a new york times story announcing the discovery of a rare form of cancer in 41 men in california and new york . ”the cause is unknown , ” the article says , ”and there is as yet no evidence of contagion . ”
longtime companion [ vhs ] [ 1989 ] : bruce davison , stephen caffrey , patrick cassidy , mary - louise parker , campbell scott , dermot mulroney , brian cousins , michael schoeffling , john dossett , michael piontek , joyce reehling , mark lamos , tony c . jannelli , norman rené , katherine wenning , lindsay law , lydia dean pilcher , stan wlodkowski , craig lucas : urltoken video
director norman rene and writer craig lucas - - the same team now getting accolades for their feature
prelude to a kiss
- - do have a narrow point of view , and they ' ve been criticized for that . with aids reaching well beyond the gay community , some have said that
longtime companion
is superficial and sacrifices an opportunity to explore the virus ' s full consequences .
when a movie goes so wrong , so consistently and with such evident determination , you can bet that the film makers ' intentions were high . ' ' longtime companion ' ' was written by craig lucas and directed by norman rene , the team responsible for the current broadway hit ' ' prelude to a kiss . ' ' though it is their first film , they certainly knew what they were doing .
lucas and rené devised an ending for longtime companion that seemed a direct response to all the death around them . in the final scene , three of the surviving friends , willy , fuzzy , and lisa , are walking on an empty beach . their conversation turns to — what was in 1988 , at least — an impossible future . “i just want to be there . if they ever do find a cure , ” willy says .
chris paynter is the author of eight novels , including
survived by her longtime companion ,
the winner of the 2013 golden crown literary society ann bannon popular choice award and finalist for the 2013 lambda literary award in lesbian romance . her latest release is
more than a song ,
a romance set in small - town georgia . she has been a three - time gcls finalist for the ann bannon award . she was a
the film both places the disease in an historical and sociological context and depicts complex and meaningful relationships between and among the characters . one of the most poignant expressions of love and loss on celluloid is the gentle , selfless care given by david ( bruce davison ) to his dying partner , sean ( mark lamos ) . or to use the most common euphemism found in the many obituaries of the time , his
longtime companion .
q : in your chapter on muriel spark ( author of
the prime of miss jean brodie
and other novels ) , with whom you had a long friendship , there ' s a sort of mystery about whether she and her longtime female companion were lovers or not . spark denied it , and yet it seems they shared a bed . you were fairly satisfied in your own mind that they probably were lovers , but that either way —
longtime companion ,
which will initially play in 19 major cities around the u . s . , then expand if audience reaction warrants , will eventually air on
american playhouse
sometime next season . on monday , it will screen at the cannes film festival as part of the
un certain regard
section , a non - competetive series that features new filmmakers . and lucas and rene are there , of course , and probably pacing .
for several months after longtime companion was finished in october 1989 , distributors apparently had a similar concern . the same studios that did not want to make the film also did not want to distribute it . ”just about everyone said they liked it , ” wlodkowski recalls . ”and that although they couldn’t take it , we’d have no problem getting a distributor . of course , if they all had said that , the movie never would have been seen . ”
law : i do remember the new york times making the note that the visual media was completely ignoring this terrible event that was going on across america . it’s not like today , when you watch television , and whatever’s on our minds is repeated on every sitcom . i thought , “well , we’re one of the few organizations who can decide , ‘hey we should do this . ‘” so i commissioned two different pieces , one of which was longtime companion .
law : i do remember the new york times making the note that the visual media was completely ignoring this terrible event that was going on across america . it’s not like today , when you watch television , and whatever’s on our minds is repeated on every sitcom . i thought , “well , we’re one of the few organizations who can decide , ‘hey we should do this . ’” so i commissioned two different pieces , one of which was longtime companion .
the publication of altman’s article was a turning point in awareness for many gay men . it served that role dramatically in the movie “ longtime companion ” and in larry kramer’s play , “ the normal heart . ” as the play opens , dr . emma brookner recounts to the protagonist , ned weeks , how inattentive the press had been . “last week , which brought you running , the times ran something on some inside page . very inside : page 20 . ”
now the smiles are thawing . thanks to the collective social conscience of a dedicated cast and crew , and to the commitment of some movie industry mavericks , longtime companion , lucas’ first screenplay and the first major feature film about gay men and aids , opened last week to admiring reviews . although it remains to be seen how the movie will fare against the summer’s blockbusters , the story of the odds it overcame to be a contender should at least sweeten its appeal .
longtime companion drew strongly favorable reviews . rolling stone contributor peter travers proclaimed it a
vital
work , and david ansen , writing in newsweek , deemed it
remarkable .
kevin thomas , in a los angeles times review , described it as
an illuminating , deeply moving experience .
for lucas , who had explained to jan hoffman in village voice that he longed to render homosexuals as
like everyone else ,
the film constituted a considerable success .
“he said he had never seen a black journalist , and the only stories he had read ( about black people ) in the tuscaloosa news were for a white person needing a black person to clean their house or something that was negative , ” recalled ann ragland , curry’s longtime companion . “he was determined that he was going to write something more positive for black people . he wanted the generation that followed him to know that there are black journalists out there . ”
the team waited months to hear some news . just before it was to screen at the sundance film festival in january 1990 , longtime companion finally got some interest from the samuel goldwyn company , which was run by future sony pictures chairman tom rothman . at the time , rothman was quoted as saying the movie would be a “harder sell than shakespeare , ” but “ whatever happens , i can say right now that i’m glad we were willing to take that chance . ”
possibly because it is the first mainstream american film about aids , ' ' longtime companion ' ' is a lot gentler and even more upbeat than it need be . it is instructional , mannerly and , with the exception of a couple of scenes and performances , insipid . it ' s as if it didn ' t want to offend people who don ' t want to think about the plague ( but who probably won ' t go to see the movie anyway ) .
craig lucas ( screenwriter , longtime companion ) : i was invited by a number of film producers to meet about possible projects . they all said more or less the same thing : “what would you like to write about ? ” i would say , “something about the community out on fire island as it was hit by the aids epidemic . ” and they would always respond with something like , “oh wow , great . but after that , what would you like to write ? ”
while there are parts of each work that resemble one another—including , unfortunately , the lack of attention paid to minorities—longtime companion never bristles with the same anger that define kramer’s writing and activism . though protest and the gay men’s health crisis both work their way into the film by its end , it focuses less on mobilization and more on how the crisis affected the interpersonal relationships of gay men in the era . it begins with the characters reading and reacting to the new york times’ famous 1981 report
but the filmmakers don ' t deserve that knock ; they made the kind of story they wanted to . besides , by focusing on the impact on homosexuals , the group hardest hit by aids in the ' 80s , rene and lucas underline how much time has gone by without any substantial progress made to fight the disease . it doesn ' t take much to realize that the heartache and sense of futility described in
longtime companion
are felt by all who are touched by aids .
until the release of philadelphia ( see annotation ) in 1994 , longtime companion was the only feature - length film to deal explicitly with aids . and although the representation of people affected is undeniably narrow , the film is uncompromising in its honest depiction of the effects of aids and in its balanced portrayal of gay relationships , albeit white gay relationships . moreover , the insularity and privilege of the characters effectively dramatizes the very human incredulity that the horror of something like aids can happen to anyone and everyone .
chris paynter is the author of eight novels , including
survived by her longtime companion ,
the winner of the 2013 golden crown literary society ann bannon popular choice award and finalist for the 2013 lambda literary award in lesbian romance . her latest release is
more than a song ,
a romance set in small - town georgia . she has been a three - time gcls finalist for the ann bannon award . she was also a gcls finalist in traditional lesbian romance for
come back to me .
in the few previous films that have dealt with aids ( the tv - movie an early frost , the 1986 independent feature parting glances ) , only one character , in each case , has the disease ; the effect , though chastening , has been similar to that of watching any other movie about a terminal illness . in longtime companion , more characters end up succumbing than we’re geared to expect . and so the film — in its very structure — mirrors the ravaging toll aids has taken on the gay community .
i remember reading the description of survived by her longtime companion by chris paynter when it came out and thinking it sounded too sombre for the kind of story i was in the mood for , but ever since i’ve kept hearing how much people have loved this novel . so when it came up as the book of the month on the facebook lesficreader group , i thought i would take a look at it , and i’m extremely glad that i did . the rekindling of the relationship between the younger protagonists , although harrowing a
for a while , i felt myself quietly protesting the design , thinking , ”wait a minute — you’re not going to tell me this guy gets it , too . ” then i realized that was the whole point . there’s a raw audacity to this film’s approach : it means to wake us up , and does . while undeniably a message movie , longtime companion is pleading not just for the better treatment of people with aids ( though that’s implicit ) but for a more humane understanding of what gays are going through .
longtime companion chronicles the first decade of the aids epidemic , with the movie split into sections by year and date . in 1981 will ( campbell scott ) and his partner john ( dermot mulroney ) spend time with another gay couple , one of whom , sean , is a screenwriter for a popular soap opera . meanwhile , howard ( patrick cassidy ) is preparing to audition for a role in sean’s show . that morning , the new york times publishes the first article about a “gay cancer” , and howard lands the role .
then the plague strikes . reports of the disease escalate , and before we’re quite prepared , one character is struck down , and then another , and another still . set over a period of several years , longtime companion presents the onslaught of aids as a series of increasingly ominous rituals , from the anxious reading of newspaper reports to the funerals that come to seem more and more inevitable . the film gives us an intimate view of those who are stricken and those who can do little but stand by and watch them deteriorate .
then , on the morning of nov . 1 , 2014 , funeral home workers arrived with a hearse and , according to a lawsuit filed march 22 , removed his casket from its tomb and hauled it to louisiana . the woman who had planned to one day join him in that now - vacant mausoleum , o ' quinn ' s longtime companion and self - described common - law wife , darla lexington , is seeking unspecified damages from the funeral home and to have his body shipped back from a cemetery in pollock , louisiana .
creator , writer and host of minnesota public radio ' s weekly variety program , a prairie home companion ; host of the writer ' s almanac , a five - minute radio program about literature broadcast daily on stations throughout the nation ; author of several bestselling books .
one of the first films to offer a thoughtful treatment of the aids epidemic and its effects on the gay community , longtime companion was directed by norman rene , who would die of aids himself in 1996 . the ensemble drama is told through a series of vignettes that begins with the first new york times report on the mysterious
cancer
that had resulted in the deaths of a growing number of homosexual men and ends eight years later , after the disease has thoroughly and devastatingly affected the movie ' s close - knit core group of characters .
funny , touching and vital , longtime companion is the best american movie so far this year . it is also , astonishingly , the first major feature to detail the gay community’s battle against the aids epidemic . the disease has been killing homosexual men for a decade now — 50 , 500 at last count . artistic responses have been varied , ranging from the decorous tv drama an early frost ( 1985 ) to larry kramer’s angry off - broadway play the normal heart ( 1987 ) . but hollywood , ever fearful of risk , has kept silent .
longtime companion had as difficult a time finding a distributor as it did getting financing . law , for one , had expected that since the film was already getting good responses at early screenings , finding a distribution company would be relatively easy . but while there were a lot of compliments , there was no contract . “they all said , ‘i know you’ll find a distributor . it’s a really good film — it just doesn’t seem like a good fit here , ’” he says . “i don’t think they were necessarily euphemisms , but maybe they were . ”
longtime companion had as difficult a time finding a distributor as it did getting financing . law , for one , had expected that since the film was already getting good responses at early screenings , finding a distribution company would be relatively easy . but while there were a lot of compliments , there was no contract . “they all said , ' i know you’ll find a distributor . it’s a really good film — it just doesn’t seem like a good fit here , ’” he says . “i don’t think they were necessarily euphemisms , but maybe they were . ”
enter tom rothman , head of worldwide production at the samuel goldwyn company . rothman had worked with law as an entertainment lawyer in new york . so when he heard about longtime companion , he ”paid attention because i know lindsay has good taste . ” rothman screened the movie at his office . ”you never get a picture where there is a unanimity of opinion , ” he says . ”but this was an exception . every person in the company felt strongly that this was a good movie . ” the crucial question remained : ”but could we sell it ? ”
perhaps the most amazing fact about
longtime companion
is how recently it was released . as early as 1981 , reports of a mysterious epidemic among gays was making headlines , but it took nearly 10 years for a major movie on the subject to hit theaters . even then , it started out as a pbs
american playhouse
production , and , after being released to movie houses , had trouble finding venues . many theater owners balked , perhaps worried that the film had limited commercial appeal ; or , they may simply have been uneasy about the topic .
she is predeceased by her former husband oliver w . ( bill ) ( 1982 ) , her sister sylvia and her brothers charlie and gerald . she is survived by her three daughters , catherine e . swiger and her husband eugene , roseanne ( molly ) clancy and her longtime companion jerry lessard ( molly changed her name to ‘clancy’ in honor of her mother and her irish heritage ) , elizabeth ( bette ) j . milliken and her husband charles . also surviving her are five grandchildren , katie , jonathan , laurie , angela , matty , and many nieces and nephews .
longtime companion begins on july 3 , 1981 , the day that the new york times printed its first major story about a rare disease , kaposi’s sarcoma , which was affecting gay men . the opening images of fire island’s beaches and woods and brunches and discos convey an idyllic
before aids
world - - a dream of beauty and immortality , a world of innocence and freedom . what follows , in a series of vignettes , is the devastating and far - reaching impact of the epidemic on the lives of seven gay men : all white , all attractive , all successful .
longtime companion has been justly criticized for the absence of safer sex information - - decreasing risk is equated with enacting monogamy - - and the sentimentality of its ending . however , the film deserves credit for attempting to bring an aids movie to a hopeful close . in keeping with the dominant tone of nostalgia , the film ends with an evocative return to the paradisiacal
before aids
world in which the same fire island beach stretches before the surviving characters as not only a seascape of loss but also as a symbol of eternity in which the living and the dead will be reunited .
on the other hand , the notion that this film — much less a more honest portrayal of harvey milk — would somehow have won votes for gay marriage is laughable . the film , probably accurately , doesn’t shy away from the promiscuity of the characters involved . men hop into bed together literally at first sight . indeed , one of milk’s election promises noted in the film was his public announcement that he would no longer visit san francisco’s famed bathhouses . hmmm . no longer seeking out anonymous sex with multiple partners even while living with a longtime companion ? what a concession to respectability .
welles acquired the film rights to williams ' book shortly after it was published in 1963 , and retained it for the next 22 years . three months after his death in october 1985 , his companion oja kodar sold those rights for $ 180 , 000 in a deal which nearly went sour .
then , on nov . 8 , in a city still rebuilding from days of violent riots ,
angels in america : a gay fantasia on national themes
opened at the mark taper forum . there had been successful plays and films that positively depicted gay lives —
torch song trilogy ,
la cage aux folles
— and later the devastation of aids with
the normal heart
and
longtime companion ,
but nothing like
angels in america ,
which put aids into such heaving , glorious context that it finally and irrevocably became part of the national narrative .
longtime companion
begins like a mystery . the story opens on the day in june 1981 when the new york times first published a report about a rare disease - - perhaps a cancer - - that had afflicted a number of gay men in the city . the movie then tells how 11 individuals , some friends , some lovers , react to the news report - - at first with disbelief and unconcern as they go about their lives in manhattan or in the perennial party atmosphere of upscale fire island . the film then revisits the same group of people one day each year , through 1989 .
longtime companion grossed $ 4 . 6 million and was considered a modest success for an indie movie . “bruce was nominated for an oscar — nowadays little movies get nominated all the time , but back then , it really was kind of unusual , ” says wlodkowski . any first - time director would have been thrilled , but for norman rené , time was already running short . he and lucas would go on to work on the film adaptation of prelude to a kiss ( 1992 ) and a movie version of their play reckless ( 1995 ) . rené and his partner kevin mckenna would even live in italy for a time .
i love this novel , am sure i ' ll read it many times . there are two love stories , separated by time , in the novel and the way chris paynter weaves the two stories together is amazing . the main story is about a hollywood star and her female lover . i grew up with hollywood stars , in films and my dreams , so it was fascinating to read about one , she felt so real ! the characters are so lovable , and the novel is beautifully written ! ! lately , i ' ve lost my faith in lesbian romance but
survived by her longtime companion
may just have restored it !
unless i ' ve missed a random nomination somewhere - - and you may correct me gently in the comments if i have - - it occurs to me that dallas buyers club is the seventh non - documentary motion picture with a prominent hiv / aids story to receive oscar nominations . ( there have been more films with supporting characters who were living with hiv , but these are the major films that are more focused on it * ) . oscar ' s history with this feature topic stretches back 23 years through one best picture nominee , a pre - mcconaughey best actor , two foreign films , and 1990 ' s longtime companion after the jump
besides her husband and her mother , survivors include a daughter , olivia ruth brophy - forst ; a brother , mark d . brophy and his longtime companion , tracy vokey , of bartlett , n . h . ; her mother - in - law , linda ( hutchinson ) forst of pitman , n . j . ; her father - in - law , james w . forst and his wife , doris , of voorhees , n . j . ; a brother - in - law , christopher j . forst and his wife , sarah , of bristow , va . ; a niece , catharine forst ; and a nephew , brandon forst .
although probably best known for his stage work , lucas also won praise as the author of longtime companion , director rene ' s film about a group of gay friends . the film begins in 1981 on the day when the new york times first reported on the aids virus , which attacks the human immune system and leaves its victims susceptible to a variety of fatal diseases . the movie ends eight years later after several of the protagonists have succumbed to aids . in the film ' s most wrenching portions , a dying man is tended—fed , washed , and clothed—by his lover . by film ' s end , both men are among the aids dead .
bond was a 22 - year - old film school student when he was hired by welles ' longtime private secretary , ann rogers , to deliver ten 400 - foot rolls of 35mm film , and 100 no 1 montecristo havana cigars to welles in yugoslavia , where the director was filming on a yacht in the adriatic port of split .
in a movie market where mutant turtles and men in bat suits represent the holy grail , it isn’t surprising that a film about a contemporary plague did not ignite a bidding war . according to hollywood marketing wisdom , a film like longtime companion ( a euphemism in newspaper obituaries for lovers of gay men and women ) is a long shot barely worth a meeting . it’s not just about aids . it’s about upper - and middle - class gay men with aids — instead of the more popular theme , innocent children who are infected with tainted blood transfusions . the shudders from potential financers constituted a west coast tremor that could have been mistaken for a shift in the san andreas fault .
personal : born august 26 , 1904 , in high lane , cheshire , england ; immigrated to the united states , 1939 , naturalized citizen , 1946 ; died of cancer , january 4 , 1986 , in santa monica , ca ; son of francis edward ( a military officer ) and kathleen ( machell - smith ) isherwood ; longtime companion of don bachardy ( an artist ) . education : attended repton school , 1919 - 22 , and corpus christi college , cambridge , 1924 - 25 ; king ' s college , university of london , medical student , 1928 - 29 . politics : democrat . religion : vedantist . hobbies and other interests :
i was a born film fan .
new york , july 30 , 1984 , p . 53 ; october 10 , 1988 , pp . 75 , 78 ; march 26 , 1990 , pp . 87 - 88 ; may 14 , 1990 , pp . 125 - 126 ; september 30 , 1991 , john leonard , review of longtime companion , p . 64 ; january 4 , 1993 , john simon , review of orpheus in love , p . 51 ; february 13 , 1995 , john simon , review of missing persons , p . 103 ; june 22 , 1998 , john simon , review of the dying gaul , p . 60 ; october 30 , 2000 , john simon , review of stranger , p . 97 .
the movie’s depiction of the emotional and physical toll the disease takes , on both its victims and those around them , is devastating . but its strength lies in its unexpected bursts of humor and anger . as they deal with overwhelming tragedy , the characterizations deftly avoid cliche and sketch a tribute to the nature of human resilience . ultimately , longtime companion manages to be hopeful . it is no more a story about aids than terms of endearment is a story about cancer . ”craig has a way of imbuing his scenes with a magical color that’s very dark , ” says parker , who plays lisa , a close friend of the other characters . ”you laugh , but it hurts . it’s like seeing a skeleton with a cape and a rubber nose . ”
creel’s winning entries span high - end fashion and entertainment magazines , event programs , magazine covers , and softcover books . each honor was achieved on behalf of longtime customers for whom creel provides a host of services across printing , publishing solutions , and supply chain support . creel also won a gold in “magazine covers” with v87 magazine’s printed plastic overlay cover , collaboratively produced with deux - points .
the producers sent the script to william hurt , jeff bridges , ed harris , james spader , and kiefer sutherland , among others . they sent it to holly hunter for the only female character of note . no bites . ”we couldn’t get the names , so we couldn’t get any money , ” wlodkowski says . as the process dragged on , the casting directors joked that the movie should be renamed longtime .
longtime companion ‘s cast is predominantly straight . ”as for playing a gay man , i just used my imagination , ” mulroney says . it was , the actors say , a nonissue . ”once you decide to do it , you just do it , ” scott says . occasionally , rené had to rein in the acting , but for the most part the men were quick studies . ”these guys , a lot of whom had just had their first babies , would sit and hold hands during rehearsals and lean against one another , ” lucas says . ”it was too cute for words . ” during shooting , girlfriends tended to show up on days that called for their boyfriends to kiss other men . ”or there would be a lot of talk about wives , ” rené says . ”maybe it was subconscious . but it happened all the time . ”