A ‘Companion’ With AIDS

Watching a movie about AIDS may not be the way you planned to spend part of your holiday weekend. Still, the film that arguably best portrays how the disease affected the lives of gay men in the ‘80s is the most outstanding new videocassette release.

“Longtime Companion” (Vidmark, $89.95, R) follows several New York City friends throughout the decade. Craig Lucas’ script conveys not only the tragedy but the courage, humor and joy of those lives.

A production of PBS’ “American Playhouse” (though released in theaters earlier this year), “Longtime Companion” features fine acting by several cast members, including Stephen Caffrey and Bruce Davison.

A more somber 1990 fictionalization of a social/historical issue, “Hiroshima” (Vidmark, $89.95, PG), stars Judd Nelson, Max von Sydow and Pat Morita in a drama about how the atomic bombing of the Japanese city was seen through the eyes of three men.

Meanwhile, this weekend’s video escapism is provided by “My Blue Heaven” (Warner, $92.95, PG-13). Steve Martin and Rick Moranis star in this broad, uneven comedy about a Mob informant relocated to a small California town. Also in the cast are Joan Cusack and Carol Kane. Herbert Ross directed.

OTHER NEW VIDEOS

There’s a lot going on “Inside the Soviet Union” (MPI), but this 20-volume series of tapes focuses more on the past than the present. The cassettes (some $24.98, others $19.98), include “Before Gorbachev: From Stalin to Brezhnev,” “World War II: Our Soviet Allies,” “Opiates of the Masses: Religion in the U.S.S.R.” and “Classical Music From Moscow.”