The Normal Heart (2014)
It is summer of 1981. Ned Weeks is an openly gay writer from New York City who travels to Fire Island via Long Island to celebrate the birthday of his friend Craig Donner at a beach house. Other friends in attendance include Mickey Marcus and the charismatic Bruce Niles, who has recently begun dating Craig, who is young and appears to be in good health. While walking on the beach, however, Craig feels dizzy and collapses. Later, when blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, Craig begins to cough repeatedly. While traveling back to New York City, Ned reads an article in the New York Times titled “Rare Cancer Diagnosed in 41 Homosexuals”. Back in the city, he visits the offices of Dr. Emma Brookner, a physician who has seen many patients afflicted with symptoms of rare diseases that normally would be harmless unless their immune systems had been compromised.
All of these cases seem to be appearing in gay men. In the waiting room, Ned meets Sanford, a patient whose face and hands are marked with skin lesions caused by Kaposi’s sarcoma, a rare cancer. Brookner examines Ned, but finds that he does not have the symptoms of this disease. She asks Ned to help her raise awareness of this disease within the gay community. Craig suddenly suffers violent convulsions and is rushed to the hospital with Ned, Mickey, and Bruce where he is later pronounced dead. Brookner recognizes Bruce, noting that he is the former boyfriend of another one of her patients who recently died. Ned organizes a gathering at his home where many local gay men are invited to hear Brookner share information about the disease. Though she lacks conclusive evidence, she states her belief that the illness is sexually transmissible and that they should all avoid having sex for the time being to prevent new transmissions.
Date of download: 2015-11-11T17:22:34+00:00
Cast:  Mark RuffaloNed Weeks  Matt BomerFelix Turner  Taylor KitschBruce Niles  Jim ParsonsTommy Boatwright  Julia RobertsDr. Emma Brookner  Jonathan GroffCraig  Alfred MolinaBen Weeks  B.D. WongBuzzy  Finn WittrockAlbert  Stephen SpinellaSanford |
It is summer of 1981. Ned Weeks is an openly gay writer from New York City who travels to Fire Island via Long Island to celebrate the birthday of his friend Craig Donner at a beach house. Other friends in attendance include Mickey Marcus and the charismatic Bruce Niles, who has recently begun dating Craig, who is young and appears to be in good health. While walking on the beach, however, Craig feels dizzy and collapses. Later, when blowing out the candles on his birthday cake, Craig begins to cough repeatedly. While traveling back to New York City, Ned reads an article in the New York Times titled “Rare Cancer Diagnosed in 41 Homosexuals”. Back in the city, he visits the offices of Dr. Emma Brookner, a physician who has seen many patients afflicted with symptoms of rare diseases that normally would be harmless unless their immune systems had been compromised.
All of these cases seem to be appearing in gay men. In the waiting room, Ned meets Sanford, a patient whose face and hands are marked with skin lesions caused by Kaposi’s sarcoma, a rare cancer. Brookner examines Ned, but finds that he does not have the symptoms of this disease. She asks Ned to help her raise awareness of this disease within the gay community. Craig suddenly suffers violent convulsions and is rushed to the hospital with Ned, Mickey, and Bruce where he is later pronounced dead. Brookner recognizes Bruce, noting that he is the former boyfriend of another one of her patients who recently died. Ned organizes a gathering at his home where many local gay men are invited to hear Brookner share information about the disease. Though she lacks conclusive evidence, she states her belief that the illness is sexually transmissible and that they should all avoid having sex for the time being to prevent new transmissions.
