Claim: Parting Glances is art.

Parting Glances is an American film shot in 1984 and released in 1986 . With its realistic look at urban gay life in the Ronald Reagan era and at the height of the AIDS crisis , many film critics consider it an important movie in the history of gay cinema . It was also one of the first American films to address the AIDS pandemic . First-time director Bill Sherwood died of complications due to AIDS in 1990 without ever completing another film .