Test

This brought back memories.... I live in Seattle and lost many friends to AIDS, so this U.S. film screened for the 2013 Seattle International Film Festival was a painful reminder of the sea change that occurred after AIDS appeared on the horizon.

Award-winning director Chris Mason Johnson ("The New Twenty") brings us:

• Newcomer Scott Marlowe as Frankie, a dancer in a modern dance company located in 1985 San Francisco. Rumors about AIDS are flying and he has become hyper-vigilant about his health, checking for spots, lumps, discolorations, etc. It is with mixed feelings he gets the news about a test for HIV which will tell him whether or not he is doomed (no treatment is yet in the offing). Next he has to work up the courage...
• Matthew Risch (Lots of TV) is Todd, the witty, worldly dancer in Frankie's troupe. His off-hand attitude about AIDS frightens Frankie.
• Damon K. Sperber (Lots of TV) is the doctor our hero finally visits. He promises Frankie total confidentiality about the results. We hold our breath....

There are several lengthy dance sequences that I enjoyed, although they finally DID become repetitive. One humorous R-rated moment was watching a couple of men awkwardly try condoms for the first time; that was a whole new thing for gay men! In addition, I enjoyed watching our hero wrestle with that curly cord on his landline telephone! I had forgotten how tangled they could become.

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Here is a U-Tube dance excerpt:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lvJYjph874

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