AIDS

Making Love Directed by Arthur Hiller Written by Barry Sandler 1982, USA Making Love is often cited as the first mainstream American movie to deal realistically with gay characters and themes. Because it was both unprofitable and unloved by critics, it would be a full decade before Hollywood tried again, with Philadelphia, to convince straight filmgoers …

The answer ranges from “not a lot” to “not the right things,” depending on how closely you observe. In the generation (30 years) since HIV/AIDS became a maligned social epidemic, only two American studio films, Philadelphia and now Dallas Buyers Club, have addressed the disease forthrightly. Other films have touched on it, of course. Larry Clark’s Kids and …