The 24th Day (2004)

The 24th Day (2004)

Director: Tony Piccirillo
Writer: Tony Piccirillo (play)
Genre: Drama, Thriller 
Country: USA
Language: English
Duration: 92 min
Year: 2004



Stars: James Marsden, Scott Speedman, Sofía Vergara, Barry Papick, Charles J. Corrado Jr., Jarvis W. George, Scott Roman

Tom (S. Speedman) je oženjen čovjek koji otkriva da nosi virus HIV-a. Uvjeren da je zaražen u slučajnom i jedinom odnosu s muškarcem koji je imao u životu, dovodi krivca svoje nesreće u stan i uzima ga za taoca.
Svoga će zatočenika, homoseksualca Dana (J. Marsden), pustiti ukoliko krvna pretraga bude negativna. Ukoliko se pak dokaže da je riječ o neodgovornom širitelju smrtonosne bolesti, opravdano bijesni domaćin će ga ubiti.

U glavnim ulogama otmičara i taoca, James Marsden i Scott Speedman, koji su nimalo lak posao obavili na besprijekoran način. Tridesetpetmilimetarska filmska verzija s uspjehom je prikazana među na specijaliziranom Outfestu u Los Angelosu i Tribeca festivalu u New Yorku.

Predpostavljam da o potrebi da se zaštitimo kada imamo seks sa nekim neznancem nema potrebe pričati. Pameten čovjek koji vodi računa o svom zdravlju neće rizikovati da dobije HIV ili neku drugu polnu bolest zbog seksa sa nekim zgodnim frajerom. Međutim putujući po evropskim metropolama primjetio sam trend da se sve više gejeva upušta u seks bez kondoma. Od kada su pronašli one koktele koji HIV virus drže pod kontrolom mnogi gejevi kao da su se umorili od stalne priče o prevenciji i kao da ih nije briga da li će pokupiti virus ili ne. Njihov izbor, ali mnogi ljudi, a posebno biseksualci mogu doći u opasnost ako se sretnu sa takvim neodgovornim gejevima. Naivni i neiskusni lako mogu upasti u zamku "dobrog sportskog izgleda". Mnogi od njih pomisle da je momak koji tako dobro izgleda i brine o tjelu sigurno zdrav. Velika zabluda!

The 24th Day is a 2004 film starring Scott Speedman and James Marsden. The film is based on a play of the same name, written by Tony Piccirillo, who also directed the film.
Tom (Scott Speedman) and Dan (James Marsden) meet in a bar and then proceed to Tom's apartment together. While there, Dan realizes that he had been in that same apartment before.

Five years earlier, Dan and Tom had a one night stand there. According to Tom, that encounter with Dan was his first and only homosexual experience. Some years later, Tom's wife is found to be HIV positive. Despondent after receiving this diagnosis from her doctor, Tom's wife drives through a red traffic light and is killed in an ensuing collision. Subsequent to these events, medical tests reveal that Tom is also HIV positive. Tom blames himself for passing HIV on to his wife and, in turn, he blames Dan for passing the virus on to him. Reasoning that Dan, ultimately, is to blame for his wife's death, Tom devises a plan to exact revenge. He holds Dan hostage, keeping him bound and gagged to a chair in his apartment. He draws blood from Dan in order to conduct a test to determine Dan's HIV status. If Dan's test results are positive for HIV, Tom vows to kill Dan. If the results are negative, Tom agrees to release Dan unharmed. In the end, Tom returns to the apartment and lets Dan go. As Dan is leaving, Tom asks him when he had last been tested. A few moments later, he reveals that Dan's test was, in fact, positive. He decided to let Dan go because he realized that his positive status was the result of his choices which he couldn't blame on anyone else. The screen fades with Dan standing in Tom's doorway, in shock, and Tom resigned to his fate.