Head On **** (1998, Alex Dimitriades, Paul Capsis, Julian Garner, Elena Mandalis) – Classic Movie Review 5,808

The powerful and engaging 1998 Australian rites-of-passage movie Head On stars Alex Dimitriades as confused young outsider Ari, a repressed Aussie gay man of Greek descent living in inner city Melbourne.

The well done, powerful, atmospheric and engaging 1998 Australian gay rites-of-passage movie Head On is set over a late-teen’s life-changing 24-hour period and based on the novel Loaded by Christos Tsiolkas.

Alex Dimitriades stars as confused young outsider Ari, a repressed Aussie gay man of Greek descent living in inner city Melbourne. He rejects his parents’ traditional values and is out for a bit of youthful experimentation (eg gay sex, love with his buddy’s sister and drugs) on his way to finding himself.

Director Ana Kokkinos’s hard-hitting, uncompromising film is highly energised and bluntly realistic. The script (by Ana Kokkinos, Andrew Bovell and Mira Robertson) is bold but quite subtle, too. And Dimitriades gives a brave, convincing performance as the 19-year-old Ari.

Despite a few wobbles and uncertainties, the film all has the caustic whiff of truth about it. It is a painful, but brave and telling portrait of troubled youth. Causing some controversy, it is a grown-up, sexually explicit film, with Dimitriades’s masturbation moment and several sex sequences.

Also in the cast are Paul Capsis as Johnny/ Tula, Julian Garner  as Sean, Elena Mandalis as Betty, Tony Nikolakopoulos as Dimitri, Damien Fotiou as Joe, Eugenia Fragos as Sophia, María Mercedes as Tasia, Alex Papps as Peter, Dora Kaskanis as Dina, Vassili Zappa as Vassili and Andrea Mandalis as Alex.

Head On is directed by Ana Kokkinos, runs 104 minutes, is released by Strand Releasing and Umbrella Entertainment, is written by Andrew Bovell, Ana Kokkinos and Mira Robertson, based on the novel Loaded by Christos Tsiolkas, is shot by James Grant, is produced by Jane Scott, and is scored by Ollie Olsen.

It won Best First Feature in the San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival as well as Best Film at the Milan International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival.

Ana Kokkinos recalled: ‘The film opened up a dialogue between younger Greeks and their parents. It has broken down barriers.’

Kokkinos realised that she was gay at 15: ‘I went through a very long process of having to come to terms with that, and that wasn’t easy, but I don’t think it’s easy for anyone.’

Her next film was The Book of Revelation (2006), followed by Blessed (2009).

Australian actor Alex Dimitriades (born 28 December 1973) previously starred as Nick Polides in the 1993 Australian romantic comedy film The Heartbreak Kid, with Claudia Karvan.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5,808

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