This is a reminder of an era I prefer not to think about, but I wasn't quite sure what this was about and I'm glad I watched it anyway. The fear, anxiety and lack of knowledge in regards to AIDS in the 1980's is well remembered by me, though I lived in NYC and not San Francisco as these characters do, but the ravaging was the same. There are no big dramatics here to show the overwhelming scope of this disease. It's an intimate reality of insecure and frightened individuals. I wish I could say this is some small masterpiece, but it isn't. It's an odd film made by a director who has thus far not made a film after this, and that was 9 years before this writing, with a lead who has never been in any other feature film. The cast is clearly professional dancers as at least a third of this film is modern dance scenes, so this is a feast for the affectionatos. While all of that makes this dramatically weaker, much of the dancing is mighty impressive. In the midst of AIDS in this era and all the dancing, this is also a tale of a budding relationship that ends, my favorite moment, on the most peculiar note, sort of ironically humorous. In the lead, Scott Marlowe, is a novice at acting, but he does well. The other lead, Matthew Risch, is an actor, and clearly a professional dancer as well, and he gives an honest performance. It's a quiet, very small, very well directed film that is hard to find on this site by name.
Review of Test
