Test (2013 film)

Last updated

Test
Test (2013 film).png
Promotional release poster
Directed byChris Mason Johnson
Written byChris Mason Johnson
Produced by
  • Alan Balian
  • Chris Mason Johnson
  • Chris Martin
Starring
CinematographyDaniel Marks
Edited by
  • Christopher Branca
  • Chris Mason Johnson
  • Adam Raponi
Music byCeiri Torjussen
Production
companies
  • Serious Productions
  • Gloss Studio
Distributed by
Release date
  • June 7, 2013 (2013-06-07)(Seattle International Film Festival)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$250,000
Box office$19,000

Test is a 2013 American drama film written and directed by Chris Mason Johnson, starring Scott Marlowe and Matthew Risch. The film is set in San Francisco in 1985, during the early years of the AIDS crisis. It follows Frankie, an understudy for a contemporary dance company, as he pursues a sexual relationship with another, more experienced dancer while fearing the unknown and navigating the stigmas of the time. The film premiered at the 2013 Seattle International Film Festival, and was screened at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. It won Jury Awards for Best American Dramatic Feature Film and Best Screenwriting at Outfest in Los Angeles, California, and the Alan Ira Dusowitz Emerging Filmmaker Award for a feature film at the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Contents

Plot summary

Test is set in San Francisco in 1985, shortly after the launch of the first effective HIV test, and depicts the effects of the AIDS crisis on members of a contemporary dance company based in the city. The film follows understudy Frankie, who prefers to escape the bullying of harsh graffiti and speculative news headlines by walking around listening to music on his bright yellow Walkman. While deeply concerned about possibly having contracted the disease, he strengthens his friendship with Todd, a bad-boy veteran fellow dancer who provides him with encouragement with his dancing and with whom he navigates the risks and hopes associated with the disease while pursuing a sexual relationship with him.

Cast

Production

Chris Mason Johnson wrote and directed Test, which he also co-produced with Chris Martin and edited with Christopher Branca. [1] A portion of its post-production budget received a pledge of $35,600 from 179 backers on the crowd funding platform Kickstarter. [2] Further grants for the production of the film came from the Horizons Foundation, the San Francisco Film Society, and The Kenneth Rainin Foundation. [3] The film was shot in part at the Joe Goode Annex Studio in San Francisco. [4]

The music for Test was composed by Welsh-born composer Ceiri Torjussen, who visited the 1980s dance scene to create his 80s retro synth score, which provided the film with a uniform and consistent sound throughout. Sixteen music tracks were released by MovieScore Media on June 3, 2014, and made available digitally on major music platforms. [5]

Release

Test had its world premiere at the Seattle International Film Festival in 2013, [3] and premiered in Europe at a screening in the Panorama section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. [6] [7] Variance Films screened the film in thirteen U.S. cities, [8] including New York City and Los Angeles, during the summer of 2014. [1] It was released on DVD on June 17, 2014, by Wolfe Video, distributed by Wolfe Releasing, [9] and made available on all major streaming services. [10]

Reception

Box office

Early weekly box office sales for Test averaged $1,228 per theater and peeked in week 5 on July 3, 2014, [11] earning a total domestic gross of $18,823. [12]

Critical response

Test received generally favorable reviews from film critics. In Slant Magazine , Clayton Dillard writes, "Adept as both timely character study and epochal drama, Test wonderfully manages fully formed humanism without sentimentality." [13] Film critic Stephen Holden, included in The New York Times , "As Frankie, Mr. Marlowe delivers a quiet, moving performance of such subtlety and truthfulness that you almost feel that you are living his life." [14] Expecting more, Martin Tsai added In The Los Angeles Times , "Writer-director Chris Mason Johnson [...] has little to say about gay life in the ‘80s and how AIDS affected gay men differently than it does today." [15] For the magazine Under The Radar, Kyle Turner stated that "Writer/director Chris Mason Johnson does an impressive job mounting the film as a drama and very gradually allowing tension and paranoia to permeate." [16]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 82% of 22 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. [17] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 7 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [18]

Accolades

Test won two Jury Awards, for Outstanding American Dramatic Feature Film and Outstanding Screenwriting at the 2013 Outfest in Los Angeles, [19] the Alan Ira Dusowitz Emerging Filmmaker Award at the 2013 Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, [20] and was chosen as The New York Times Critic's Pick. [14]

AwardCeremonyCategoryRecipient(s)ResultRef.
Alan Ira Dusowitz Emerging Filmmaker Award Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (2013)Feature FilmChris Mason JohnsonWon [20]
New American Cinema Award Seattle International Film Festival (2013)Nominated [21]
Grand Jury Award L.A. Outfest (2013)Outstanding ScreenwritingWon [19]
Outstanding U.S. Dramatic FeatureWon
Premio Maguey Guadalajara International Film Festival (2014)Best Feature FilmNominated [22]
John Cassavetes Award Film Independent Spirit Awards (2015)Independent SpiritChris Mason JohnsonNominated [23]
Chris MartinNominated

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankie Goes to Hollywood</span> British pop band

Frankie Goes to Hollywood were an English pop band that formed in Liverpool in 1980. They comprised Holly Johnson (vocals), Paul Rutherford, Mark O'Toole (bass), Brian Nash (guitar) and Peter Gill (drums). They were among the first openly gay pop acts and made gay rights and sexuality a theme of their music and performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holly Johnson</span> British artist, musician, and writer (born 1960)

William Holly Johnson is an English artist, musician, and writer, best known as the lead vocalist of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who achieved huge commercial success in the mid-1980s. Prior to that, in the late 1970s he was a bassist for the band Big in Japan. In 1989, Johnson's debut solo album, Blast, reached number one in the UK albums chart. Two singles from the album – "Love Train" and "Americanos" – reached the top 5 of the UK Singles Chart. In the 1990s, he also embarked on writing, painting, and printmaking careers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jenni Olson</span> American filmmaker

Jenni Olson is a writer, archivist, historian, consultant, and non-fiction filmmaker based in Berkeley, California. She co-founded the pioneering LGBT website PlanetOut.com. Her two feature-length essay films — The Joy of Life (2005) and The Royal Road (2015) — premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Her work as an experimental filmmaker and her expansive personal collection of LGBTQ film prints and memorabilia were acquired in April 2020 by the Harvard Film Archive, and her reflection on the last 30 years of LGBT film history was published as a chapter in The Oxford Handbook of Queer Cinema from Oxford University Press in 2021. In 2020, she was named to the Out Magazine Out 100 list. In 2021, she was recognized with the prestigious Special TEDDY Award at the Berlin Film Festival. She also campaigned to have a barrier erected on the Golden Gate Bridge to prevent suicides.

The Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is a movie screening event that takes place each October in Tampa, Florida. The primary venue is the Tampa Theatre, but several other cinemas in or near the downtown area and in St. Petersburg simultaneously host the event as well. While most of the films focus on homosexual themes, some films explore other areas of human sexuality including transgender issues and gender roles.

<i>Magic Mike</i> 2012 film by Steven Soderbergh

Magic Mike is a 2012 American comedy-drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, and Matthew McConaughey. The plot revolves around Adam, a 19-year-old college dropout who enters the world of male stripping, guided by Mike Lane, who has been in the business for six years.

Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival, the New York Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival, and the Inside Out Film and Video Festival, in launching the North American Queer Festival Alliance, an initiative to further publicize and promote LGBT film.

Michelle Ehlen is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actress best known for her comedic feature Butch Jamie.

Wolfe Video is the oldest and largest exclusive producer and distributor of LGBT films in North America.

Randall Miller is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, and occasional actor.

<i>La Mission</i> (film) 2009 American film

La Mission is a 2009 drama film starring Benjamin Bratt and Jeremy Ray Valdez. It is written and directed by Peter Bratt. The film premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and screened at various festivals, including the San Francisco International Film Festival and the Palm Springs International Film Festival. It received a limited release beginning April 9, 2010.

<i>Pornography: A Thriller</i> 2009 American film

Pornography: A Thriller is a 2009 American mystery/thriller film, written and directed by David Kittredge.

The GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Wide Release is an annual award that honors films that received a wide release for excellence in the depiction of LGBT characters and themes. It is one of several categories of the annual GLAAD Media Awards, which are presented by GLAAD—an American non-governmental media monitoring organization founded in 1985, formerly called the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation—at ceremonies in New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco between March and June.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Haigh</span> English filmmaker

Andrew Haigh is an English filmmaker. He is best known for writing and directing the films Weekend (2011), 45 Years (2015), Lean on Pete (2017), and All of Us Strangers (2023). He also wrote and directed the HBO series Looking (2014–2015) and its film sequel Looking: The Movie (2016), as well as the BBC Two limited series The North Water (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Ahn</span> American film director

Andrew Ahn is an American film director and screenwriter who has directed the feature films Spa Night (2016), Driveways (2019), and Fire Island (2022).

<i>Naz & Maalik</i> 2015 American film

Naz & Maalik is a 2015 American drama film written and directed by Jay Dockendorf and starring Curtiss Cook Jr. and Kerwin Johnson Jr. It follows two closeted Muslim teenagers over the course of a summer afternoon, as their secretive behavior and small-time scheming accidentally lead them into the crosshairs of FBI surveillance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewel's Catch One</span> Gay dance bar in Los Angeles

Jewel's Catch One was a dance bar owned by Jewel Thais-Williams. It was located at 4067 West Pico Boulevard in the Arlington Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. Opened in 1973, it was the longest running black gay dance bar in Los Angeles. After nearly closing in 2015, it was purchased by Mitch Edelson and his father Steve Edelson - who reopened under new management. Briefly called Union after the change in management, it has since reverted to the Catch One moniker.

<i>Beach Rats</i> 2017 film by Eliza Hittman

Beach Rats is a 2017 American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Eliza Hittman. It stars Harris Dickinson in his feature film debut, with Madeline Weinstein and Kate Hodge in supporting roles. It follows an aimless Brooklyn teenager who struggles to reconcile his competing sexual desires, leaving him hurtling towards irreparable consequences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Mason</span> American artist

Rachel Mason is an American filmmaker whose work includes performance art, music, films and multimedia projects.

<i>Circus of Books</i> (film) 2019 documentary film

Circus of Books is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Rachel Mason, written by Rachel Mason and Kathryn Robson and starring Karen Mason, Barry Mason and Rachel Mason. The premise revolves around Circus of Books, a bookstore and gay pornography shop in West Hollywood, California, and in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Ushmey Chakraborty is an Indian filmmaker, actor, and screenwriter. He is the son of actors Mithun Chakraborty and Yogeeta Bali.

References

  1. 1 2 Lattanzio, Ryan (November 25, 2014). "Why 'Test' Director and Indie Spirit Nominee Chris Mason Johnson Is a Queer Cinema Rising Star". IndieWire . Archived from the original on September 29, 2022. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Track TEST - a feature film in post-production's Kickstarter campaign on BackerTracker". BackerKit. October 17, 2012. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Chris Mason Johnson". Serious Productions. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  4. ↑ 10 Percent: David Perry chats with Chris Mason Johnson, director of the movie Test (Podcast). David Perry Associates. July 30, 2013. Event occurs at 9:57. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023– via YouTube.
  5. ↑ "Test (Ceiri Torjussen)". moviescoremedia.com. 2014. Archived from the original on July 7, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Panorama 2014: First Films". Berlinale . Archived from the original on December 22, 2013. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Test". Berlinale . 2013. Archived from the original on February 22, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  8. ↑ Howard, Rachel (June 2, 2014). "Dancer Scott Marlowe steps up in new role: actor". SFGATE . Archived from the original on June 7, 2014. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  9. ↑ "Wolfe Releasing - Theatrical & Film Festival Booking for Wolfe Video". Wolfe Releasing . Archived from the original on May 23, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Test". Wolfe Video . Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Test (2014) - Financial Information". The Numbers . July 3, 2014. Archived from the original on November 27, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Test". Box Office Mojo . June 6, 2014. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
  13. ↑ Dillard, Clayton (June 9, 2014). "Review: Test". Slant Magazine . Archived from the original on June 13, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  14. 1 2 Holden, Stephen (June 12, 2014). "Grimly Staring in the Mirror, a Dancer in '85" . The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 16, 2022. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  15. ↑ Tsai, Martin (June 12, 2014). "Review: 'Test' says little about gay life in the 1980s". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on February 4, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  16. ↑ Turner, Kyle (June 18, 2014). "Test". Under the Radar . Archived from the original on July 6, 2022. Retrieved February 17, 2023.
  17. ↑ "Test". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved February 23, 2023. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  18. ↑ "Test". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  19. 1 2 "Outfest Los Angeles: Chris Mason Johnson, ‘Test’ Claim Jury Prizes" Archived February 22, 2023, at the Wayback Machine . The Wrap , July 21, 2013.
  20. 1 2 "Previous Winners of the Tampa Bay International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival Awards - TIGLFF". tiglff.com. 2013. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  21. ↑ "Seattle International Film Festival Award Winners & Nominees - 2013". Cinema Dailies. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  22. ↑ "18 filmes concursarán por Premio Maguey Universidad de Guadalajara". www.udg.mx. Archived from the original on February 22, 2023. Retrieved February 22, 2023.
  23. ↑ "2014 - Awards Season: Independent Spirit Awards - Nominations". The Numbers . December 6, 2014. Archived from the original on February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.