Malaysian born director Yen Tan has made several gay-themed films, but he’s certainly getting a lot more attention for 1985, the feature-length version of his own 2016 short film. Indeed, following its first film festival screenings, it currently has a 100% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The 16mm black and white movie follows, ‘A closeted young man goes who home for the holidays and struggles to reveal his dire circumstances to his conservative family.’ As you may have guessed by its title, 1985 takes us back to a world that was just hearing about HIV and AIDS for the first time, and where gay people who were just taking there first steps towards acceptance were suddenly faced with an immense, terrifying and largely unknowable threat.

A very good cast includes Cory Michael Smith, Virginia Madsen, Michael Chiklis and Jamie Chung. The movie is due in US cinemas on October 26th. No UK date is currently set. Take a look at the trailer below. [Read more…]