film 1985 review

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Jamie Chung and Cory Michael Smith in 1985.

1985 review – stylish and heartbreaking

A touching, lo-fi drama set at the height of the Aids epidemic against the backdrop of Reagan’s America

“I really just want to hang out,” Adrian (Cory Michael Smith) tells his former high-school girlfriend Carly (Jamie Chung). On its own, the phrase is innocuous enough but here, the delivery is so loaded it made this critic cry. There are a lot of moments like this, heartbreaking instances in which confrontation is teased then sadly sublimated, in this touching, lo-fi gay drama. Set against the backdrop of Reagan’s America, the Aids epidemic looms large over the film, though it is never mentioned by name.

Suppression is simply a means of survival for closeted Adrian, who is home for the holidays for the first time in three years, having escaped his conservative home town of Fort Worth, Texas, for New York. Here, members of the church burn “secular” pop records, dads tear down Bryan Adams posters, and gold-leaf Bibles appear in Christmas stockings.

Malaysian-born writer-director Yen Tan shoots stylishly in black and white 16mm, each frame a tasteful photograph. What’s most skilful, though, is the way he succeeds in complicating archetypes. Carly, for example, is a Korean-American stand-up, whose race drives an additional wedge between Adrian and his Vietnam war-veteran father (Michael Chiklis, proud, fearsome, emasculated but still loving); his devout mother (Virginia Madsen) hides her voting habits from her husband; younger brother Andrew (Aiden Langford) is a pre-teen Madonna fan who might be more like Adrian than he thinks. This is crystallised in the film’s beautifully judged centrepiece, which sees Adrian sharing a reluctant beer with his dad, the camera creeping closer and becoming more intimate as their conversation becomes chillier.

Drama films
The Observer
Aids and HIV

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1985 Reviews

The black and white cinematography is stunning and the richly nuanced performances are heart-breaking.

Full Review | Dec 7, 2022

In spite of its somber source material, 1985 finds a surprisingly happy note to end on.

Full Review | Nov 16, 2022

Its performances are strikingly authentic and it does well in depicting the personal pain of an international crisis through the lens of domestic normalcy.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 1, 2021

Gorgeous grainy black-and-white sheen - the feeling of sparse quiet, the unspeakable made manifest...

Full Review | Jul 2, 2021

1985 ends up hitting you in a powerful yet understated manner.

Full Review | Oct 2, 2020

A remarkable film featuring an absolutely stunning performance by lead Cory Michael Smith.

Full Review | Original Score: 4.0/4.0 | Sep 17, 2020

One of those little masterpieces that... are very much worth discovering. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 21, 2020

Everything is treated with the delicacy that is required to share this painful story. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Jun 11, 2020

[Cory Michael Smith's] performance supports the entire film. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 29, 2020

Yen Tan embraces the quiet, and embraces the domesticity of central-American life, celebrating what makes an American family something worth aspiring for, while equally exploring the troubles that are inherent with that life.

Full Review | Apr 4, 2020

Assuming you can go home again, the visit might not be the smoothest ride of your life. That sad concept resonates through Yen Tan's drama, set in the nightmare onset of AIDS.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 23, 2019

...marked by beautiful black and white cinematography, quietly moving performances and a sustained mood of tenderness and terrible pain.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | May 15, 2019

Tan stresses the tragic dimension of the story, but also its ordinariness. It's a tale of a boy and his family that could be played out in any American town, in 1985 or today.

Full Review | May 14, 2019

A quiet, heartbreaking film that never overdoes the melodramatic trappings of its story.

Full Review | May 4, 2019

All of the acting is very good, although some American commentators have remarked on the fact no one has a Texas accent. This won't matter much to an Australian audience.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 25, 2019

...humbly pairs a desire for normalcy against a larger moment in history, with consequences that bleed into the personal.

Full Review | Apr 25, 2019

What really distinguishes the film is that it gets deep inside this broken family without becoming histrionic or accusatory. Tan avoids any hint of sentimentality, concentrating on the pain instead.

A fantastic little gem of a film that succeeds due to its wonderfully nuanced performances, stellar filmmaking and the honest and genuine approach of its storytelling.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Apr 23, 2019

...a film with a quiet effective power.

Full Review | Original Score: 17/20 | Mar 21, 2019

The writer-director offers no easy solutions, relying instead on a stellar cast and nuanced responses.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 14, 2019

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COMMENTS

1985 review
Here, members of the church burn “secular” pop records, dads tear down Bryan Adams posters, and gold-leaf Bibles appear in Christmas stockings. Malaysian-born writer-director Yen Tan shoots ...
1985
Michael Cuby them. In spite of its somber source material, 1985 finds a surprisingly happy note to end on. Full Review | Nov 16, 2022. Ben Turner The Pink Lens. Its performances are strikingly ...