MAN I LOVE, THE

(director/writer: Ira Sachs; screenwriter: Mauricio Zacharias; cinematographer: Josée Deshaies; editor: Alfonso Gonçalves; music: George Gershwin; cast: Rami Malek (Jimmy George), Tom Sturridge (Dennis), Luther Ford (Vincent), Rebecca Hall (Brenda), Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Gene), Dennis Courtis (Billy), Amy Carlson (self/Phyllis); Runtime: 95; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Scott McGehee, David Siegel, Saïd Ben Saïd, Mike Spreter, Myriam Schroeter, Misook Doolittle; Merino Films/MK-2 films; 2026)

“Melancholy AIDS drama.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
 
Ira Sachs (“Keep The Lights On”/”Passages”) directs and co-writes with Mauricio Zacharias this melancholy AIDS drama about the popular NYC performance artist Jimmy George (Rami Malek), who is HIV-positive in the homophobic Reagan-era of the 80s.

The title is lifted from George Gershwin’s tune “The Man I Love.”

Jimmy is playing a blonde-wigged drag queen, in a NYC stage version of the forgotten André Brassard’s 1974 film “Once Upon a Time in the East.”

The actor has recovered enough from a three weeks AIDS-related pneumonia hospital stay to return to his apartment, where he lives with Dennis (Tom Sturridge, Brit actor) and to be cared for by his loving brother-in-law Gene (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Also concerned about his health is his loving sister Brenda (Rebecca Hall).

The adventurous Jimmy soon falls for his new carefree upstairs neighbor Vincent (Luther Ford). This relationship upsets Brenda, Gene and the rejected Dennis.

The drama ably captures the tense atmosphere of the AIDS era of the 1980s in the Big Apple.

It played at the Cannes Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 5/24/2026  GRADE: B
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