AIDS movies formed the core of queer cinema ten or twenty years ago, and there were many memorable ones (The Living End, Parting Glances, World and Time Enough...). This British movie came out near the end of that 90s period, just about the time new drug cocktails were beginning to change the life course of HIV sufferers. The movie is set just before that time, and its gay characters are too familiar with the dying of their community. As one of them here says when challenged by a hospital nurse during a friend's last hours, "We've done this before." I first read about this movie in a glowing NY Times review when it received its very limited American release a decade ago, and wished I could see it. Now I have, thanks to Netflix. Though the AIDS epidemic is always in the background, the center of the movie is the unlikely – but all the more believable – relationship between a handsome, sexy young dancer played by Jason Flemyng, and an overweight, alcoholic therapist played by Antony Sher. The actors and the screenwriter take care to help us understand how these two mismatched souls become mates, and in doing so, elicit sympathy for these two deeply flawed individuals. This may have been a low budget indie flick, but it features the virtuoso acting that we so often associate with British thespians, not only from Flemyng and Sher, but in a lovely turn by Dorothy Tutin as a batty old dance company manager who is sinking into dementia even as the younger members of her company are dying off. This all makes the movie sound pretty grim, but in fact it's lively and funny. The movie's chief asset, aside from its performances, is its snappy and sophisticated dialogue by Martin Sherman (who wrote Bent). This is an adult love story, though no one ever says "I love you." The two lovers are both painfully imperfect humans, like all of us, who cannot manage their interactions with anything like the smoothness that psychobabble books (or Hollywood movies) suggest they should. Even the therapist who helps other folks manage their traumas cannot manage his own with grace. The highlights of the movie are the sharply written "duets" between the two protagonists as they navigate their very rocky relationship. My chief reservation about the movie is a plot dive into some sappy melodrama as the dancer's climactic farewell performance approaches, but even so, the movie earns its sentimental wash more than most with the careful, sophisticated development of its characters. I forgave – alright, I even succumbed to – the last act sentimentality. And finally, I can't resist a brief reference to Mr. Flemyng's attractiveness. I first noticed him oozing sex appeal in Stealing Beauty, and then playing the bully villain in Hollow Reed. Alas, in recent years, he seldom seems to turn up on American screens doing anything much worth watching. Pity. He's plenty worth watching in Alive and Kicking.

I really enjoyed this movie. As someone, who has been in the dance world, I thought this movie really showed what its like pretty realistically. The whole tone of the film was tender and sweet, and all the actors were very likable. I was impressed with Jason Flemyng's work and loved the character he created. Anthony Sher was a perfect match for Flemyng, and they were lovely together. This film dealt with the issue of AIDS in a very tasteful way. This movie had sweet, funny, sad and bittersweet moments. The movie shows you how no one should take life for granted, and you really feel the joy that all the dancers get from dancing. A powerful film for dance lovers, and anyone else.

No queens, no histrionics...other than a deliberate put-on one. Lots of laughs with gays laughing at themselves or, rather, the picture that society would have of them. I had never understood before how men can make love face to face. And the scene between the dyke and the queer (it's OK, they use these words) trying to make love is PRICELESS!!! Talk of forests and lollipops. The boy and girl dancer are really best friends.What's really poignant is the scene in Greece....was it the Delphi ruins? The timeless beauty of the place, and the definitely known finite-ness of the visitors was a juxtaposition you'll seldom see. As he throws the ashes of 2 AIDS victims out in the beautiful Aegean (?) Sea, the wind blows it back upon them. "I've got Ramon in my eyes" the dancer responds. From the georgeous Grecian landscape back to the burning wrecked cars in a junkyard of London was a GREAT seque.Judy Tutin has died, which is why I bought this movie. Her line "Don't be sad because you won't grow old." as her self-knowledge about her Altheimer's becomes more obvious, is even more touching.So, we have a comedy about dancers and AIDS. What other profession has been so struck by this horror?The lines about living life to its' fullest till you die are tremendously inspiring, and the comedy all around keeps the beautifully shot movie from being doleful. See it with a gay friend...one who dances.

Shown here on HBO Signature as "Alive and Kicking," I've seen this film twice now, and I marvel at how well it was put together, and how incredible it is that it never received the notices or exposure it should have...but not that incredible. My guess is that States-side audiences, gay and otherwise, weren't quite ready for such an unconventional love story, in which AIDS is definitely an issue, but not the sole focal point of the story.The tale revolves around the coupling of an HIV-infected, self-absorbed dancer (is there any other kind?) with the bearish, balding, hard-partying AIDS therapist who was treating one of the dancer's closest friends, who has just passed away as the movie unfolds.Gay American filmmakers who didn't get a clue from movies like BEAUTIFUL THING, PRISCILLA or THE LOST LANGUAGE OF CRANES should've paid more attention here. The barriers between these two radically different people are given an honest presentation, and AIDS just happens to be one of them. No one is more surprised or stunned than these lovers are, (except maybe the audience), at the level of passion, tenderness, concern and brutal honesty that they unearth from one another's bodies and souls.Rather than the idyllic romance of two Soloflexed beauties, the differences in personality and body type both clash and compliment the two men, and the excellent performances by Jason Flemyng as Tonio, the dancer, and the curmudgeonly-yet-cuddly Antony Sher as his new love keep the scenario real without disintegrating into queenly histrionics or maudlin manipulation.The entire supporting cast is excellent, but special mention should be made of stage-and-screen vet Dorothy Tutin as Luna, the founder and lioness of the dance company of which Tonio is a part. Experiencing her own 'Indian Summer', the once-innovative choreographer is only spared the agony of watching in helpless anguish as this century's plague continues to decimate the ranks of her once vital company, due to the ironic cruelty of an ever-advancing case of Alzheimer's. Tutin never plays the role for obvious laughs, and the ghost of a once-great creative force that she shows us does elicit smiles, but sad, nostalgic ones.Lovers of films "off-the-beaten-path" of any sexual persuasion should give this one a try. The rewards are worth it.