Review of Hot to Trot (2017) by Irene S — 27 Aug 2018

Some documentaries are so surprising, and so much fun, that even if you know little or nothing about the subject-- even if you don't care about the subject-- you can't help but be seduced. Such is "Hot to Trot," a documentary about same-sex ballroom dancing that was an official selection at a film festival in San Francisco in June. In the words of a fellow interviewed in the film, it's a world of Freds with Freds and Gingers with Gingers. Who leads? Good question.

Director Gail Freedman focuses on one female pair and one male pair, though it adds up to more than four people because, of course, life intervenes. Now and then, the time comes to change partners. One Fred becomes ill, is replaced by another. A Ginger can't manage both her demanding job and the demanding world of competitive dance, so her partner's girlfriend foxtrots in. We meet dancers' families, from a mother who helps sew her daughter's glittering costumes to a father who struggles to accept a homosexual son who is not just out of the closet but on stage with another Fred. We meet their domestic partners, too, all of them supportive, but not all lifelong. That, too, is life, and this movie embraces all of it.