‘The Man I Love’ Review: Rami Malek Is a Tortured Actor Dying of AIDS in Ira Sachs’ Minor-Key ’80s New York Love Triangle
Ira Sachs' film 'The Man I Love' features Rami Malek as a New York performance artist grappling with AIDS in the 1980s. The story revolves around his complicated relationships with his boyfriend Dennis and a younger man named Vincent. The film stands out for its nuanced portrayal of love and loss without resorting to typical AIDS movie tropes.
- ▪Rami Malek plays Jimmy George, a performance artist in 1980s New York.
- ▪The film avoids cliches associated with the AIDS genre, focusing instead on character relationships.
- ▪Jimmy's affair with Vincent complicates his relationship with his boyfriend Dennis.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Ira Sachs directs Rami Malek in the melancholy, sexy, and piercingly sad “The Man I Love,” which is elusive to think about and to hold in your hand but nonetheless makes a scarring impression because of how it shirks the cliches related to the AIDS movie genre. Malek plays a New York performance artist named Jimmy George in the 1980s, who has an affair with the cute ginger twink who’s just moved in downstairs as a sort of last grab at joie de vivre before the disease inevitably takes him down. There are no Kaposi’s sarcoma lesions on display, or tearful bedside vigils, and there’s only one scene in a hospital that’s instead focused entirely on Jimmy’s partner Dennis (Tom Sturridge) and how he reacts to his boyfriend’s worsening and critical condition.
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