Alive and Kicking

Dancing done right leaves no sound. Just heartbeats as both performers and the audience members alike fall into an artistic void where passion, sadness, happiness, and even closeness can be felt by the movement of the body alone. One such scene in writer's Martin Sherman (Bent) movie Alive & Kicking (directed by Nancy Meckler – choreography by Liz Ranken's) conveys this order – and although the scene may have been necessary to introduce such an act, an act almost ruined by what happens after it – the movie is about the beauty of life, this time told through the perspective of a dancer.

If one were to subtract a few years from the characters of Alive & Kicking, we'd have the movie Billy Elliot (a movie I loved so much, I can't write a review on it!). Although very different films, both possess a quality that dance, be it strange, is closer to the soul than what one speaks. But unlike Billy Elliot – Alive & Kicking feels the need to express closure, instead of leaving emotions open. Perhaps one of the biggest faults I found in Alive & Kicking.

The movie begins with Tonio/Jason Flemyng. Dancing is his livelihood and sees no other reason for existing. He's not the greatest dancer by any means, but he tries hard, fights with his inability to perform certain moves – but keeps trying and trying, and trying. His lover, Ramon/Anthony Higgins is wasting away in a hospital, deaf, scarred, and close to being a corpse as he waits to die from AIDS. Tonio's current situation juxtaposes his carefree, energized spirit until he soon realizes that he too has AIDS and will, eventually, perhaps succumb to the same existence that Ramon has and had. But Alive & Kicking could have been too easily a scrapbook drama about a guy who knows he has AIDS stepping into new, enlightened shoes. Instead, Alive & Kicking portrays two characters almost as real as can be (perhaps sadly) expected in 1996 the year the film was made. I say sadly in parenthesis, because the mistake of the movie is to spend too much time making Tonio out to be a flaming, hand gesturing, drama queen – while leaving room for his new found love to hold the grounded society-loving employed, yet closeted alcoholic problem. Today perceptions are much different. Even though they still have a long way to go.

Although quite obvious that as a title Alive & Kicking was meant to oppositely associate that AIDS is usually thought of as death while dance may involve foot movement – Alive and Kicking as a movie is more about the inner beauty of a person although faced with a debilitating disease. When Tonio is not dancing, he's pursing a relationship with Jack/Anthony Sher, a middle aged man with a receding hairline. He is quite the opposite of Tonio which is what draws Tonio to Jack initially. There's a scene early in the film where Tonio is covering a club's dance floor while plenty of hot young looking guys attempt to get his attention and his shirt. But it is Jack who ultimately gets Jack's attention – and although they share quite a few arguments which fuel much of the "talking" parts of the film, their relation feels real.

Thrown into the mix is the typical English best friend who doubles as a woman. She is the only one who truly understand Tonio, and is there for him with each tumble his life gives him. It seems that in every gay flick there is always a woman who understand the male gay character, offers up wise advice, lightens and brightens each day – yet is really only there as a clearly defined supporting character, forgotten in the long run.

Perhaps one of the best things about Alive & Kicking was its timing. Although it does present the gay characters, well at least most of the gay characters as flaming queens, the movie did appear on the scene long before many of the more recent gay relationship movie – that seem to all be about sex, sex, and coming of age. It's refreshing to see that not all movies have to be about coming out of the closet and exploring one's sexuality – a theme that too many films I think explore.

Overall, Alive and Kicking mixed together life and dance and expressed both in equal parts of art. The movie may be a little slow in parts and boring all together if one doesn't like dance. There isn't a lot of nudity or sexual situations, unlike many other movies of the same type including those that come from England (there's even a quasi-nude scene between a woman and a man! Gasp!). If one had to boil Alive & Kicking down to a message (a great way to end a review by the way!) it would be that the movie gives hope. Not hope in terms of being a dancer, not even hope in terms of finding love, just hope in terms of having a human spirit to live on no matter what may cross your path.