Test

I don't whether its me catching up on movies, but it feels of late I have been watching a lot of movies set in mid 80s during the whole AIDS epidemic times. This movie. although set in 1985 in San Francisco, deals with something different and the presentation is also very different. The film captures the fear raging through the gay community as the AIDS epidemic begins to devastate a lot of people’s lives. After years of accepting promiscuity as the new normal, they have to rewrite the rules for their sexual and romantic encounters. There is not crying or anything but there is definitely hope.

The film is about a gay dancer named Frankie and his day-to-day life as a back-up for a dance company. He is passionate about dancing and is constantly being told to "dance like a man". We don't know if he does have a crush on Todd, the manly gay bad-boy dancer on the group but you can see there is some sort of sexual tension between them. This is the time when AIDS reports have stated to come out and the gays are living infer of whats next. The latest blood tests have also just been introduced but the guys are afraid to take the test. There is not much known about how the disease is caused and spread. Frankie lives in fear and keeps reminding Todd of being safe. Finally Frankie gets a chance to perform when one of the guys fall sick and he does brilliant work. He meets Walt, a guy in a bar and hook up a few times but Walt is moving away soon. Before he moves, he tells Frankie that he has been tested positive. This bread Frankie's confidence. Thankfully his test comes negative and so is Todd's/ The two were meant to be together. And they do get together towards the end.

Clearly a lot of portions of the movie were focussed on dance and the leads are dancers and they both do a good job of it. Trying to create emotions and what was actually going in people's minds at that point, the film succeeds and provoking that but as a whole there is a lot to be desired. There is not much happening between Frankie and Todd till the very end of the film. Frankie's other flings (with Walt and his room-mate) are not interesting and the narrative is a little underdeveloped. Clearly the focus was more on dances (which are good) but some sort of further story development and character detailing would have helped the film tremendously. Minus the dance scenes, the film could be easily short film.

The film does promote healthy and safe sex suggestion. A story that could have been much more likable leaves a lot to be desired. (5.5/10)