Wolfe announced this past
week that writer/director Yen Tan’s internationally-acclaimed — and
award-winning (Barcelona International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, Champs-Élysées
Film Festival, Dallas International Film Festival … and more — drama, 1985,
will be available as both DVD and Blu-ray product offerings on Dec. 18.
The film had its debut at
the South by Southwest Film Festival in March of this year and immediately
became a credit and festival attendee favorite. Indeed, 1985 would still be working the
circuit, but Wolfe elected to bring filmmaker Yen Tan’s heartfelt story about a
young advertising executive’s farewell trip home at Christmas to a wider
audience during the Christmas-selling season.
Adrian Lester (Cory
Michael Smith — First Man, Wonderstruck … and as The Riddler in the Gotham
television series) has it all, a fast-track future in advertising in New York
City, but it is 1985 and the AIDS crisis is in full bloom and he is HIV
positive — treatment is still over the horizon. He has already attended a half-dozen
funerals and he has prepared himself mentally, if not emotionally, for what is
to come.
It’s Christmas and he
heads home to spend the holidays with his mother, Eileen (Virginia Madsen — Sideways,
Firewall, The Number 23, Lost Boy, etc.), his father, Dale (Michael
Chiklis — Emmy-winner for The Shield), and his young brother,
Andrew (Aidan Langford). Also on the
home front is high school sweetheart, Carly (Jamie Chung — Eden, The Hangover, Part II,
Sucker Punch, etc.).
His family is conservative
and religious … his high school girlfriend is unaware. Adrian’s journey home is emotional
rollercoaster … coming out and saying goodbye.
Grab the Kleenex, it is required.
1985 is an indie film, but it is blessed with a
magnificent cast — Cory Michael Smith brought along Gotham co-stars Jamie
Chung and Michael Chiklis — add in Virginia Madsen and the glorious black and
white photography by HutcH (aka: Hutch Crane — Some Beasts, Summer's Shadow,
etc.) and you have a final product that totally belies its product budget.
Bonus features included
commentary from director/writer Yen Tan and producer/cinematographer HutcH and
the 2016 short film titled 1985 that Yen Tan and HutcH worked
on together.
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