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The Living End

By Golu
Neo-noir movie, a gay Thelma and Louise are some of the ways to describe this film. Released back in 92, I can see the film being relevant and doing quite alright for its audience. There is something that people could connect to, but I don't think it was relevant much today, not from a story perspective but from the message it is trying to give (Is it trying to give a message?). The film at least doesn't take the route of self pity after being disgonsed with AIDS and our protagonists wanting to live their life on their own terms. 

The story is really simple. Jon and Luke, one os film critic and the other is a hustler are both HIV positive and a chance encounter enables them to rethink their life. Rather than self pity, they decide to take life head on and life their remaining life on their terms and decide to go on a road trip. The film follows these young guys on this road trip as they rediscover love with one another and as they discuss sex, death and the afterlife, and begin to come face to face with their fate.

The film doesn't trivialize AIDS in any way. What it does instead is give vibrant, angry substance to the phrase "till death do us part." The two characters could not be more different from one another. Compared with the more conventional Jon, Luke seems a real rebel, but the two soon overcome their differences to begin a fervent love affair. When they begin having sex, Jon forces himself to acknowledge his recent diagnosis, but Luke's response is typically cool. "Welcome to the club, partner," Luke has seen more of the real world in his time (including witnessing a murder), compared to Jon who has had a relatively stable sheltered life. uses crime as a way of extricating its characters from everyday society, and not as an occasion for passing moral judgment on their behavior. Getting out is what matters, not getting even. Its hard to judge films like this and it would be a very personal opinion. I can see some people really liking this movie for it does have a lot of perspectives to offer leading to some very interesting discussions. But, somehow the film didn't connect with me at a level that I would have wanted it to. You be your own judge on this one. (3.5/10)
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