The Boys in the Band

A film that takes place in a New York apartment. Michael is preparing a birthday party. A few friends will come, there will be drink and a present. They are all gay men and the year is 1968; such a life cannot be lived openly outside. The guests arrive. The talk is cheerful at first: needling jokes, old stories, dancing. Then someone unexpected knocks. Alan, Michael's friend from college, is in the city and wants to talk; he is not of this circle and Michael does not know what he knows. From there the film becomes a study in tension. The drinking increases, the jokes harden, and Michael proposes a game: everyone will telephone the person they truly love and say so. The game turns into a wreck. What the narrative is interested in is not the pressure outside but what that pressure does inside: what the characters do to each other burns worse than anything from outside. The source is Mart Crowley's 1968 play; the film was made with the cast of its Broadway revival fifty years later, a cast made up entirely of openly gay actors. Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells and Robin de Jesús are in the cast. Joe Mantello directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes drama from the stage, built on talk. Who it is not for: anyone looking for an easy watch; the second half is merciless and the characters treat each other very harshly.