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Rami Malek delivers a quietly shattering turn in Ira Sachs’s latest, a tender New York portrait set in the late 1980s. The film traces an intimate moment in the city’s queer scene, folding performance art, illness, and desire into a small, vivid drama that feels both personal and of its time.
Rami Malek’s most stripped-down role yet
Malek plays Jimmy, an amateur performance artist living with AIDS. He’s not a polished star. He’s messy, magnetic, and vulnerable. Critics who have been hard on Malek may be surprised by the restraint he shows here.
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He balances anger, charm, and confusion without tipping into caricature. His Jimmy can be tender one minute and volatile the next. Malek leans into the character’s nerves and contradictions.
Jimmy’s vocal moments are deliberate rather than showy. When he sings, the tone often feels world-weary. The actor turns small gestures into revealing choices.
Life, care, and complicated intimacy in 1980s Manhattan
The story takes place shortly after Jimmy recovered from a life-threatening illness. He manages his condition with AZT and the thin solace of a routine.
- Dennis (Tom Sturridge) — Jimmy’s partner and primary caregiver, steady and devoted.
- Vincent (Luke Ford) — a young admirer from downstairs, impulsive and infatuated.
- Brenda (Rebecca Hall) — Jimmy’s sister, who brings family warmth without judgment.
The film watches domestic moments as if from the other room. Care is intimate. Desire is urgent. Both are often fragile under the pressure of illness.
Theater within a movie: rehearsals, homage, and drag culture
Jimmy stages a performance piece that nods to a quirky 1970s queer film. He seeks the rawness of a rehearsal, not a polished show.
His work borrows camp and camp’s contradictions. He learned his moves in drag venues and late-night bars. He performs to be seen, not to be famous.
The piece is part homage, part self-excavation. As Jimmy’s health slips, the project becomes a mirror for memory and decline.
Ira Sachs’s intimate directing style and cinematic choices
Sachs treats the film like a close-range observational study. Dialogue often comes out half-uttered, natural and unforced.
He mixes precise period details with a loose scene rhythm. Cuts sometimes feel sudden, like real life skipping from one beat to another.
Sachs’s approach echoes indie predecessors, but he keeps a small-scale lens. The film favors atmosphere and moment over tidy plot mechanics.
Scenes that stay with you
Two moments stand out for their emotional clarity.
- Opening night: Jimmy takes the stage, and what begins as performance slides into something rawer. It’s less spectacle than unraveling.
- Family gathering: Jimmy sings a melancholic 1970 song and transforms it. The rendition reads as a quiet act of defiance and longing.
These scenes reveal the film’s core: art as survival and exposure. Malek’s delivery makes private sorrow audible.
Cast, crew, and the film’s small-scale power
The movie thrives on its ensemble and its deliberate simplicity.
- Director: Ira Sachs — intimate storyteller with a documentary touch.
- Lead: Rami Malek — fragile and compelling as Jimmy.
- Supporting: Tom Sturridge, Luke Ford, Rebecca Hall — each adds layers to the social world around Jimmy.
Production choices favor lived-in spaces and muted period color. The result is a film that feels like you’re overhearing a life rather than watching a crafted headline.
