Parting Glances (1986) takes a realistic look at urban gay life in the Ronald Reagan era and at the height of the AIDS crisis, many film critics consider it an important film in the history of gay cinema. It was also one of the first American films to address the AIDS pandemic. 

As Michael and Robert, a gay couple in New York, prepare for Robert’s departure for a two-year work assignment in Africa, Michael must face Robert’s true motives for leaving while dealing with their circle of eccentric friends, including Nick, who is living with AIDS.

Parting Glances gave Steve Buscemi his first major movie role. “It is to both his and the film’s credit,” wrote Janet Maslin in her New York Times review, “that the anguish of AIDS is presented as part of a larger social fabric, understood in context, and never in a maudlin light.