If you love lean, topless, white, men in their prime dancing ballet then this movie is for you!
The plot is simple and straightforward and has been told before. Thus, it's the delivery of the story that I think is fair to criticize.
The characters of the movie did a convincing job capturing the deep fear and dread that many people still have about HIV/AIDS and the unknown.
The plot moves along in a beautiful "slice of life" style of narrative. You get to see Scott Marlowe's character go through the anxiety and even horror of possibly getting a disease that just murdered Rock Hudson. Everyone else is so afraid and in panic of this new mysterious disease strongly associated with gay men that it sparks an acute wave of homophobia. You see "die faggot" spray painted casually and menacingly on a mattress on the side of the street. You worry if you can get it from sweat. You try to find out if you can tell who has it just by looking at their appearance. The paranoia builds and unfortunately the stigma of HIV/AIDS is still as strong and relevant today.
A subplot develops as the gay protagonist tries to also dance like a man as harshly instructed by his fastidious jerk of a choreographer.
My only negative criticism I think and room for improvement is found in nearly all gay films. It's a movie about cisgender white men. Forget drag queens, trans-gendered people, and more importantly people of ethnic minorities and how it was nearly impossible to get help without interacting with those other marginalized groups. This is another gay film that beautifully annihilated reality by believing that white men are the default human beings.
Overall though, if you're into looking at white men dance naked and have gay sex with each in a tasteful movie with a decent plot then give this movie a try!
The plot is simple and straightforward and has been told before. Thus, it's the delivery of the story that I think is fair to criticize.
The characters of the movie did a convincing job capturing the deep fear and dread that many people still have about HIV/AIDS and the unknown.
The plot moves along in a beautiful "slice of life" style of narrative. You get to see Scott Marlowe's character go through the anxiety and even horror of possibly getting a disease that just murdered Rock Hudson. Everyone else is so afraid and in panic of this new mysterious disease strongly associated with gay men that it sparks an acute wave of homophobia. You see "die faggot" spray painted casually and menacingly on a mattress on the side of the street. You worry if you can get it from sweat. You try to find out if you can tell who has it just by looking at their appearance. The paranoia builds and unfortunately the stigma of HIV/AIDS is still as strong and relevant today.
A subplot develops as the gay protagonist tries to also dance like a man as harshly instructed by his fastidious jerk of a choreographer.
My only negative criticism I think and room for improvement is found in nearly all gay films. It's a movie about cisgender white men. Forget drag queens, trans-gendered people, and more importantly people of ethnic minorities and how it was nearly impossible to get help without interacting with those other marginalized groups. This is another gay film that beautifully annihilated reality by believing that white men are the default human beings.
Overall though, if you're into looking at white men dance naked and have gay sex with each in a tasteful movie with a decent plot then give this movie a try!