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"Larry Kramer in Love & Anger"
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U.S. Documentary
An unlikely hero gets his due in "Larry Kramer in Love & Anger," a touchingly personal portrait of the acclaimed playwright and gay activist. Filmmaker Jean Carlomusto, an old friend of Kramer's, chronicles his early days as a Hollywood screenwriter (receiving an Oscar nomination for his adaptation of "Women in Love"), his autobiographical writings, and his unease with the 1970s New York gay community's preoccupation with unbridled sex. When AIDS started decimating that community, though, Kramer found his cause — as one of the early lights of the Gay Men's Health Crisis, the main organization helping New York AIDS sufferers, and as a founder of the civil-disobedience group ACT UP. Carlomusto employs great archival footage, moving recent interviews, and clips from Kramer's produced works (including the Broadway revival and HBO movie of his classic "The Normal Heart") to create a warm appraisal of this dynamic and often prickly force in modern American life.
- Sean P. Means
"Larry Kramer in Love and Anger" is screening in the U.S. Documentary competition of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. No more festival screenings are scheduled.