BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE) (120 Battements par minute) SPEC D: Robin Campillo. France. 143 min. Sep 10, 2:15 pm, Scotiabank 1 Sep 12, 3:45 pm, Scotiabank 2. Rating: NNN
Director Campillo dives deep into Paris ACT UP’s battle against the AIDS plague in the early 1990s in this intense docudrama.
His hyperventilated approach lays out what victims and their loved ones had to deal with at a terrifying time. But much of the action is by the book even a mother’s concern for her suffering son barely resonates.
What saves the film is the love story between two ACT UP members whose care and devotion to each other provide an emotional touchstone the rest lacks.