Review: THE NORMAL HEART

Larry Kramer’s THE NORMAL HEART first performed at the Public Theater in 1985 was a brilliant AIDS wake up call! It has finally has it made it to the HBO screen. The transformation of the strident, yet timely, advocacy play tittering on melodrama into a deeply moving, historically correct, nuanced representation of how human beings,  in particular gay men, were confronted by a pandemic that found little sympathy or concern in halls of government, the pulpits of churches and the homes of most Americans is remarkable. Kramer’s screenplay in the hands of director Ryan (Glee) Murphy and a superb cast including Mark Ruffalo (playing Ned Weeks the character based on Kramer) and Julia Roberts has opened up the play in the way that only narrative cinema can. Having lived through the period myself and having personal knowledge of all the characters based on real people left me suspicious at first. But it completely brought me back to a time and place of much pain, death, grief, anger and the awakening of the silent majority in the gay male community to the horror of a plague and the restraints of the closet. Highest of praise for Kramer and the integrity of his script; to HBO for allowing Murphy and his accomplished actors to fearlessly represent gay sexuality and relationships authenticly ; to expose homophobia and to role model how the lesbian and gay community grew up in the darkest days of AIDS because of demanding activists like Kramer. It all takes place in the years before Kramer and others founded ACT UP. Like Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, the Normal Heart throws its wings wide and embraces all human beings confronted with loss, grief and anger. Kudos to all involved. The Normal Heart is a must watch.

Critics Pick the Best Movies at the Tribeca Film Festival my ballot w//trailers

Jim Fouratt - Reel Deal   tribeca Film Festival 2014 ballot

BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE 1. Manos Sucias 

2. Broken Hill Blues  

3. Bad Hair 

4. Night Moves 

5. Glass Chin 

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
1. The Overnighters 
2. Silenced 
3. Tomorrow We DIsappear 

4. Dior and I 

5. Regarding Susan Sontag 

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Roman Polanski, Venus in Fur 

2. Sofla Norlin, Broken Hill Blues
3. Kelly Reichardt, Night Moves
4. Noah Buschel, Glass Chin
5. Ester Martin Bersgmark, Something Must Break 

BEST LEAD PERFORMANCE
1. Emmanuelle Seigner, Venus in Fur
2. Saga Becker, Something Must Break3. Sebastian Hiort af Ornäs, Broken Hill Blues
4. Stellan Skarsgard, In Order of Disappearance 

5. Jack Kilmer, Palo Alto 

BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE
1. James Franco, Palo Alto 

2. Patrick Chesnais, Bright Days Ahead  (on DEMAND now) 

3. Soufia Issami, Traitors \
4. Nelly Ramos, Bad Hair 
5. Oliver Platt, Lucky Them 

BEST SCREENPLAY 

1. Glass Chin
2. Human Capital 

3.​ ​Bad Hair
4. Palo Alto
5. Young Bodies Heal Quickly 

BEST FIRST FEATURE
1. Keep On Keepin’ On
2. Virunga 

3. Palo Alto 
4. Mala Mala 

5. Honeymoon 

BEST ENSEMBLE
1. Love is Strange 
2. Human Capital 
3. Third Person 

4. Beneath The Harvest Sky 

5. Five Star