Caffeinated Clint
”The Normal Heart” is a stunning and confronting film – based on a play of the same name – about the early days of the AIDS crisis.
Directed and produced by Ryan Murphy (”Glee”,”American Horror Story”), the film brings together an amazing cast, including Mark Ruffalo (”The Avengers”), Julia Roberts (”Mirror, Mirror”), Taylor Kitsch (”Friday Night Lights”), Jim Parsons (”Big Bang Theory”), Alfred Molina (”Spider-Man 2”), and Matt Bomer (”Magic Mike”).
Set in the years 1981-1984, ”Normal Heart” fixes on a time when no one knew what AIDS was and how it was transmitted. So while all these people are coming down with a mysterious, deadly illness, others are getting about behaving in ways that’ll soon see them inflicted with the same disease.
Ruffalo is terrific as Ned Weeks, a gay man at the center of the story. He becomes progressively argumentative as it becomes clear something really bad is happening and it’s being ignored.
DVD : Includes a great behind-the-scenes doco titled ‘How to Start a War’.
