User Reviews

This is a complex documentary that shows many things about early Gay life. To put it in perspective it was when Gay was the word used for the homo-sexual revolution, and not just Gay as a descriptor. Or is it still used that way today? I believe most of the film comes from circa 1968 to 1989. It was released in 1993, so it's been around.

I was touched by the documentaries capturing of one man's love for another over a 20 some odd year period. A love expressed in ways that only true love can be. There are many scenes of incredible empathy and pain, along with scenes of joy and pleasure. There are scenes of life as a homo-sexual and life as a gay. The film itself was a work of love, and I believe it to be a diamond.

At the very least one will get out of this film an understanding of the devastating impact of AIDS. As I write this, I am thinking how much earlier this film seems to me to have been set. The advances in medical, political, and social sciences and culture that have taken place since this film was set (some 15 years ago) are amazing. However, obviously, in the case of the disease of AIDS itself, we are not done yet. Heck I guess we aren't done on all fronts.

Anyway, it's just a pretty darn good documentary. I'd encourage anyone that feels that they don't quite understand gay life, gay issues, or the devastation of AIDS to watch this film.

The saddest thing about this film is that only 8 people cared to leave a review of it and NO-ONE felt it worthwhile leaving a comment on the message boards.

Made the same year as Philadelphia...the Tom Hanks Oscar-winner... this is the film that people REALLY should have seen and given awards to. There is more humanity, life, love, tenderness and beauty in these two people than in just about any other gay film I have seen... and it is all true.

In order for this to be printed I need to leave a few more lines of text: suffice it to say that anyone who REALLY wants to know what it was like to be gay in the 60's and 70's, and to understand just what AIDS was like before the modern drug "cocktails" allowed people to breathe a little easier... this is the film to see.

Oh, and I will add a personal comment about AIDS. Despite everything, there actually has been a silver lining to all the horror. When AIDS first arrived, it was called the "gay cancer", and governments preferred to "let them die" rather than spend a red cent on research to help save a bunch of fags. Then it became clear that AIDS would also be a heterosexual disease. But the government wasn't ready for that; So when straight people began getting ill too, the only organizations and associations that were available to them were those which had been set up by gays themselves (examples: The Names Project: the quilt memorializing all those who died of AIDS; Act Up etc) The result is that people who probably would never have come in contact with gays in their ordinary lives suddenly found themselves counting on them and needing them, because no other organizations existed. This close contact, in my estimation, is what finally broke down the barriers of prejudice and allowed the straight world to finally accept gays as equals. When AIDS first came on the scene, many of us thought that the straight world would use it as a way to come down even harder on us... and that probably would have been true if straights didn't suddenly become ill too; nevertheless, the strides that have been made in gay liberation - to the point that, as I write this, there are at least 5 countries in the world that accept gay marriage - these gains would probably have taken a lot longer without AIDS to bring us together. It is sad to think that all those people - both straight and gay - had to die before our common humanity became more obvious - but if what I am writing here is true, and I think it is - then there is a bit of comfort to be taken in realizing that all those people did not die in vain.

I caught the last half of this movie on cable one night and was struck by just how morbid it was. Even when one of the two victims is at his most deteriorated, the camera keeps going. the lingering shots of his corpse being uncovered and his concentration-camp figure being zipped into a body bag are both moving and depressing. don't watch this movie if your already depressed. then again don't watch it if your feeling really good.

This is the finest film ever made to deal with the subject of AIDS. It's a documentary about two men living with and dying of this illness. The film is beautiful, heartbreaking, funny, and incredibly moving. Above all, it is an amazing true love story. Be sure to have a few hankies ready before you watch this movie---you will need them. Extraordinary.

Silverlake Life, The view from here, is an absolutely stunning movie about AIDS as well as about a gay love relationship. Some images are indeed really hard to take, especially when one is gay or fears about AIDS, and probably for any sensitive person watching it. It's not easy to make a movie about such a terrible illness and its consequences about not only one, but two people's lives. This movie teaches how to care for each other in such hard times, but it never gets too morbid, it still shows life at any time, reminding you that outside of the theater or of your room, life goes on, whatever the destiny of some people may be. The characters are incredibly endearing, while we watch their intimacy in shots that never go beyond a very strict limit, never unveiling anything too private or offensive. Children should certainly not watch this movie, but grown-ups whether they have to deal with such situations or not, should do it, and will not regret the tears they shed.

I'm a married heterosexual man with two children, and I don't see how any human being with a heart could see this film and still think that there is something wrong or unnatural about same-sex marriage. Tom and Mark are beautiful and charming as individuals, but the depth and truth of their love so transcends the idea that marriage has anything to do with the sex of the partners that only someone with a heart and mind cemented closed could fail to recognize it. I saw this film when it first came out, and I've seen it twice seen. Though I wept each time, with each viewing I felt more joy as well. This film is one of the reasons my wife and I have taken our kids to the pride parade every year. We want them to know without a doubt that whatever their sexual orientation turns out to be we will always love them just as much. No God worth a second's thought could keep Tom and Mark out of heaven. They will live in people's hearts far longer than the prejudices of our age will.

This film is not morbid, nor is it depressing. It -is- sad, because AIDS in the early '90s -was- sad. But its real message is one of love and perseverance.

Mark and Tom were in a long-term, loving relationship. Their devotion to each other is evident right away, and as the ravages of AIDS escalate and become the focal point of their lives, you see strength and commitment that are truly heartwarming.

When "Silverlake Life" was originally released, I was deeply involved in HIV/AIDS education and health care, volunteering as a counselor at an HIV/AIDS clinic. The film spoke to me like no other AIDS film of its day could, because Mark and Tom were real people, living the very experiences that I saw on a daily basis in real life. I knew from firsthand experience what it was like to watch AIDS eat away at formerly vibrant, young, healthy people; seeing it happen to Mark and Tom in the film was very much like watching my real-life friends deteriorate. It touched me in a way that, even all these years later, still affects me.

This documentary is incredibly thought-provoking, bringing you in to the lives of two long-time lovers who are in the final stages of AIDS. The past footage of their twenty-some-odd years together really brings their final moments home.

If this movie doesn't make you feel the pain and agony of these two fascinating people, you don't have a heart.

Rarely do I ever write reviews on IMDB but this movie seriously moved me. I can watch anything, from the most gruesome documenting reality videos to death camp videos to anything, but when the scene with the dead body comes it really hit me. I think this is not only because of the brutal reality of it, but also the slow deterioration of Tom that occurs throughout the film, as well as the realisation that it could have happened to anyone.

I am a straight man with no experience of AIDS or its effects, but this movie really brought home to me what it meant in the early 90s to be HIV positive.

Just watched this documentary. One of the best I've seen. Remarkable scene where the director's lover of 20+ years dances to the song, "Take My Heart Away". It's like in the midst of their illness, he gets lost in the music. He allows the music to take control of his body and forgets all the negatives that surround him. His partners decline in health and his own likely demise. Beautiful story with very candid and frank scenes that allow the view to see first hand the experience of someone living and dying of AIDS. I wish there were documentaries like this that display the beginning and the unfortunate ends of these victims. Im truly feel honored to be able to view this. I'm thankful that Tom Joslin had the courage to allow us to see his life and death. Thankful that Mark Massai was apart of the project and granted Tom's request to keep it going after his death. And lastly thankful that Peter Friedman continued the project and successfully completed it. It's a MUST WATCH!

Wow. I don't know what to possibly say about this movie. I watched this in my Freshman seminar and the first half of the movie made me laugh. The touching way they tell their story it's amazing. You fall in love with the characters and you realize that love is genderless. Whether it's between a man and a woman, two women or two men, it's all the same.

I came into this film with the attitude that people who are promiscuous with their sex lives deserve to get AIDS and I have no sympathy for them, I still feel that way, but after seeing all the pain Tom went through and seeing his corpse laying there I'm disgusted. No one deserves to die like that. He was basically skin stretched over bones. No one should have to suffer that way. You saw his intelligence and ability to hold on a conversation deteriorate along with his health. I forever have a picture of Tom's lifeless skeleton etched in my brain.

You'll cry, you'll laugh, you'll learn something. You'll learn what true love means and what suffering is like.

So appreciate your review. I'm also a heterosexual married man but appreciate diversity and the value that all men and women have. Just really enjoyed how you raise your children and the freedom you show them that it's ok to be who they are.

Life can seem a bit depressing anymore with all the fighting and put downs people show to one another. It's nice to see a movie invoking the feelings I see in many of these reviews.

I do not think I've seen a better film dealing with a same sex couple in a loving relationship dying of aids. This film will leave you feeling a joyful sadness and you will be happy that you watched.