Test

Way back in the 90s when fear and paranoid were alive & kicking ferociously at the gay man's psyche...an unrelenting, devastating, hard-hitting, sweaty [dance] film was released.

Test - alas - is not - by any stretch of the imagination - the same kind of film. It neither hits hard nor does it commit to the stress and fury of the time.

The [HIV] 'test' is not really at the centre of the film - it resides on the periphery...along with some mice and a peeping Tom.

Ask a gay man - from that time - what went through his mind - before, during and after - taking that test. Those 3 stages are a film...of soul-searching, fear and resolution.

Test almost suggests that....life goes on as normal. Well, it doesn't. It would be lovely to think that it would, that it could...but HIV/AIDS changed everything...drastically and tragically.

And that's the fundamental problem with the film - it's been written with none of the urgency of the time - it's been written with today's knowledge...HIV/AIDS is - thankfully - no longer the death sentence it once was.

That said...it's not a bad film - just a little naïve...with some striking and mature choreography.

Technically...accomplished.

Johnson has come a long way from his rather pedestrian debut...it's only a matter of time before he makes something truly inspirational.

Trailer...