While most of the attention for the small screen is on a number of popular TV programs, I recently caught HBO's television film The Normal Heart. This is a must-see.
The Normal Heart is an adaptation of a 1985 Broadway play of the same name. In this film, a large cast of characters attempts to fight for someone-anyone-to do something-anything-about the AIDS crisis. However, it's also about how a weighty uphill battle with the highest of stakes takes a toll on people, in particular Ned Weeks (Mark Ruffalo).
Ruffalo has a high chance of winning an Emmy for his performance here, a powerful depiction of a man fighting a losing battle and having everything turn against him. Existing at the core of the film, Ruffalo elevates every line of dialogue he's given through his impassioned delivery. As the film goes on, Ruffalo emotes with more and more desperation, almost a mirror of the increasingly despairing tone of the events around him.
That's not to say that the rest of the cast doesn't act their hearts out as well. Matt Boemer as Felix Turner has gotten a lot of deserved acclaim; Jim Parsons as Tommy Boatwright carefully shows a decline in his sassy charms as his character becomes more and more disheartened, and Julia Roberts as Emma Brookner exerts an opposite force to Ruffalo's Ned. This immense collection of brilliant performances is deserving of a theatrical screening, although on HBO it's in good company.
The script is adapted from the original play by Larry Kramer, which was revived in 2011 to win the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. This on-screen revival has an intensity demanded by its subject matter and source material, and the direction pushes that to the forefront. Things that can't be accomplished on stage, for example editing and the use of multiple complex sets, serve to enhance the film as a strong record of the esteemed drama. The direction is wrought with an anger and passion that is needed here, and scenes are intensely focused to hammer home both the lowering spirits of the protagonists and the anger conveyed in the original text.
The text has been praised first as a furious, impactful soapbox, and then later as a very strong drama. The original context has some relevance to modern-day issues, but with the specific issues on display here being in our past, the dramatic strengths shine through. As mentioned before, many characters grow increasingly disheartened about the cause. Amidst all the death and seeming negligence, our protagonists get angrier. The narrative features several moments of notable dramatic weight, and by the end the sheer exhaustion the cause brings is fully carried across on-screen.
This is, at this point, the best movie I've seen all year. It'd be premature to call this the year's greatest film, especially given that the awards season hasn't begun yet, but there's a high chance that it will end up in the top 10. It's a drama adaptation that is, indeed, dramatic, and damn if it doesn't earn its weight.
10/10
Extended thoughts [note: spoilers]
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