Brian Cousins
When a lab experiment goes wrong, Benjamin Knight is left invisible while his scientist friends trying to find a formula that will restore his visibility to last the rest of his life.
In his hidden laboratory deep in Russia, Dr. Karl Zimmer has invented the Mandroid, a humanoid robot which follows the motions of a man in a special control suit. He has offered the invention to the USA, who have sent Smith and Wait from the CIA for inspection. However Zimmer's partner Drago has different plans, wants to sell Mandroid to the military. The night he tries to steal Mandroid, he becomes exposed to the highly toxic Superconn. But he can flee and won't give up on Mandroid, even though he's terribly disfigured.
Longtime Companion follows the lives of a small circle of friends from the first mention of the disease in the New York Times in 1981. First referred to as "Gay-Related-Immune-Disorder," we watch the effect of the disease as it devastates the lives of our protagonists. Jumping between Manhattan and Fire Island, vignettes carry us from the it-couldn't-happen-to-me mentality of the early days of the disease to the invasive effect it has had on all of our lives, today. The title of the film comes from the New York Times' refusal to acknowledge homosexual relationships in their obituary section during this period. Instead, survivors were referred to as "Longtime Companions" of the deceased.
