Many movies have pictured the early days of AIDS, with it's dramatic consequences, so you have to come up with something pretty good to make a difference. Unfortunately that's not the case here. The acting was (with a few exceptions) awkward and the settings looked rather cheap. I'm convinced of the good intentions of the makers, that is: to serve the important cause of keeping up the awareness of the world in regard to AIDS, but this cause would have been better served with a more well-considered balance between the grave message and the way to deliver it.
The script is melodramatic, on the brink of larmoyancy. The last half hour of the movie all characters gather around their dying friend, perpetually crying and sobbing in each other's arms, screaming to heaven out of sheer frustration, etcetera, etcetera. I also had some reservations about the settings. Why Amsterdam (apart from it's notorious sex-image)!? They never show anything of the real Amsterdam, everyone talks English fluently, and the doctor even has an English name (in a Dutch hospital??). In the club we see a few erotic dance-acts, and there's also some gay making-out between lovers, but for a 2009-movie with as specific subject an erotic venue/brothel, it's all filmed almost prudishly.
All in all, good intentions spoiled by mediocre acting and way too much drama.
The script is melodramatic, on the brink of larmoyancy. The last half hour of the movie all characters gather around their dying friend, perpetually crying and sobbing in each other's arms, screaming to heaven out of sheer frustration, etcetera, etcetera. I also had some reservations about the settings. Why Amsterdam (apart from it's notorious sex-image)!? They never show anything of the real Amsterdam, everyone talks English fluently, and the doctor even has an English name (in a Dutch hospital??). In the club we see a few erotic dance-acts, and there's also some gay making-out between lovers, but for a 2009-movie with as specific subject an erotic venue/brothel, it's all filmed almost prudishly.
All in all, good intentions spoiled by mediocre acting and way too much drama.