How does one react when a crisis seems both right next door and worlds away? This is one of the many questions the characters in Chris Mason Johnson‘s film Test, which tackles the AIDS crisis from the POV of a young gay man who is an understudy in a dance company. Rather than just focusing on the harrowing aspects of this era, Test seeks to explore the characters who just happen to be living in a time when this all was possible. In this respect, Test is a wonderful character study and tone poem, that although it doesn’t necessarily succeed in every avenue it hopes to explore, it’s well made enough to be an engaging film.
The synopsis of the film lovingly states that the film is “set in the free-spirited San Francisco of 1985.” When we first meet Frankie (Scott Marlowe) he’s stretching his limbs on a bed, getting ready to go to his dance practice. He’s an understudy in a company, hoping for his one big break, which is proving tougher by the day as he’s yet to appeal to the director. He’s friends with everyone at the company, especially Tom (Matthew Risch), whom he shares a lovingly biting relationship with. However, all is not right in Denmark as they would say. It’s the early years of the AIDS crisis and a simple hookup can lead to instant death sentence. It is in this world that Frankie struggles to not only achieve professional success but personal freedoms that won’t tremendously impact his life.
What I liked most about this film is that it attempted to tackle a different POV about such a haunting issue. The AIDS crisis is something that has recently gotten a lot of attention recently with Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart running on HBO and How to Survive a Plague being Oscar nominated, but each of these pieces is something much more angry and upfront. Test, in an astute move, succeeds in bringing us into a character’s space where the crisis is still present (that doctor visit is harrowing) but that the simple day to day interactions don’t revolve around protests or terror of the disease. We cheer when he gets his big chance to dance in the company and we can relate to him because everything is on the surface. My biggest issue with the film was that AIDS and the advent of the test for it, felt like little more than window dressing, discussed in hushed whispers or barely given the depth this film could have gone with it. But every time I felt the film wasn’t going deep enough, I got hit with another character beat or great interaction with Tom and Frankie, that I forgot about any issue.
The acting in this movie is pretty subtle and both Marlow and Risch mold themselves into whatever the scene happens to be calling for at that particular moment. Often its being forced to emote through choreography, which is the life blood of this movie. Choreographed by acclaimed U.S. choreographer Sidra Bell, the dancing scenes are wonderfully composed, shot, and danced by the company of men.
Test arrives on VOD today.
Grade: ***/**** (B-)