Head On

1998

1h 44m

Drama

LGBTQ+

List

60%

Tomatometer

25 Reviews

67%

Audience Score

2,500+ Ratings

Ari (Alex Dimitriades), the son of two Greek immigrants, is an alienated teenager who lives in Melbourne, Australia. He spends his time seeking out cheap thrills, and, over the course of one day, he dives into a bottomless pit of hedonism. He sleeps with a few men he meets, he sleeps with his friend Betty (Elena Mandalis), he takes drugs, he sells drugs and he rages against society. Ari seems numb to life until he and his best friend (Paul Capsis) have a violent run-in with the cops.

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Critics Consensus

Head On's narrative rambles at times, but its raw, sensual approach creates a powerful, resonant rumination on identity.

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Andrea Gronvall

Chicago Reader

Director Ana Kokkinos has an eye for local color but spends little time developing the supporting characters.

Apr 1, 2010

Full Review

Desson Thomson

Washington Post

In a way, the film is a kissing cousin to the 1960s kitchen sink dramas of the British cinema and the working-class angst of German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Feb 24, 2005

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Newsday

Rated: 2/4

Jan 24, 2005

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Jeremy Kinser

The Advocate

Dimitriades gives an impassioned performance, but the sleaze quickly grows monotonous.

Apr 19, 2022

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David Ehrenstein

New Times

... the movie demonstrates just how hard coming out can be, especially for those more at war with themselves than with the culture around them.

Oct 3, 2017

Full Review

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Rated: 3/4

Jun 11, 2005

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andy n

Old, sad, too problematic movie!

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

david l

Head On is a very dark drama dealing with the dangers of failing to accept one's own sexuality. The movie is very dark, graphic and depressingly nihilistic, but also honest and heartbreaking. It also benefits from an excellent main performance and an interesting glimpse into the Greek immigrant experience in Australia.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Originality is refreshing. It's not your typical vanilla LGBT story. There's Greek culture infused in this and it provides a raw and real struggle with someone not quite sure what life choices to take.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

If it ended on him saying I'm sorry, it would've been a completely different movie. It would've felt like he actually changed or realized his mistake. But then the movie runs back to say no he hasn't learned anything and he's ok with it. Only moderately ok scene in the movie was when he finally got with Sean and even that certain parts had to be ignored (ie Sean saying he was falling in love after only just meeting Ari and Ari being a douche for the one of the main times he did meet him). The main character was one of the most detestable characters I've ever witnessed and not even remotely in a good way. His hatred for the dad felt inorganic and superficial. The journey of self discovery that was promised was really just Ari either using women to "see if he was really gay" or actually indulging himself in tons of random sex. The only takeaway I would actually value is learning about the marginalization of Greeks in Australia which I didn't know much about until this movie. But even that was undermined by Ari's blatant xenophobia and as I said before the fact that he doesn't even grow from his mistakes because he does know it's a mistake. Which brings me to how he treats his friends–like garbage. Which would be fine if he were punished and then he learned he was wrong but even though he is punished and he does figure he should probably change he doesn't and it's never explained why. If you want to learn how to make a movie with a douche main character actually good, I suggest watched Abre Los Ojos which is similar to this but the mcs douchebaggery is 1. Explained, 2. Punished, and 3. Learned from and rectified or at least regretted. To make a long story short this movie felt childish. The main character was like a kid who forgot what he was mad about but knew he should be mad about something so he just stayed mad. The most agonizing part of the movie I think beyond even how he treated Toula which made me sick on multiple occasions, was when the dad was dancing in his face and he just stood there frowning like it was the dad's fault his life was terrible even though it honestly really wasn't. Not until the end anyway. I mean yes he was faced prejudice, discrimination and homophobia if he came out but what was so awful about the movie was that they barely even touched on that. I think in the director's attempt at subtly they ended up leaving too much unsaid so that Ari became a lazy douchy bum who didn't understand why everyone thought he was a lazy douchy bum. If he was rich I would say he had affluenza. It would've made more sense though if he were rich. I just want to know why he couldn't get a job. Maybe the movie should've been a little more upfront about the discrimination against Greeks in the Australian job market. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention. It also felt like the longest movie ever. But that's enough ranting for me. Someone should make a compilation of just the Sean scenes. Might be a good movie idk. P.S. I'm tired of these trans/drag queen characters only being stereotypical "sugar" types who are all the exact same. For once I'd like to see them with depth. Although I did like Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club. But that's probably just a personal opinion.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/15/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Ass. That's what this movie is. There's no clear cut direction, the dialogue is awful, etc etc. Confusing and cinematography is just plain weird. The only good parts about this movie are Johnny, that one dance scene in the kitchen, and Alex Dimitriade's face. The rest I could easily go without. Just plain weird without having anything to say. WTF IS THIS MOVIE ABOUT??? I still don't know.

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

johann m

A Greek Australian man struggles with his sexual identity and has several homosexual encounters, takes drugs and rages against society. Alex Dimitriades shows some performance skills that are truly underrated. The movie delves too much into social realism and makes it a bit unbelievable. Someone can't suffer so many bad things in just a couple of days and the main character is not even likeable or relatable... I just hated him so much at the end, but it is evidence of what a broken soul is capable of doing.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Ana Kokkinos

Director

Alex Dimitriades

Ari

Paul Capsis

Johnny

Julian Garner

Sean

Tony Nikolakopoulos

Dimitri

Elena Mandalis

Betty

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Synopsis

Ari (Alex Dimitriades), the son of two Greek immigrants, is an alienated teenager who lives in Melbourne, Australia. He spends his time seeking out cheap thrills, and, over the course of one day, he dives into a bottomless pit of hedonism. He sleeps with a few men he meets, he sleeps with his friend Betty (Elena Mandalis), he takes drugs, he sells drugs and he rages against society. Ari seems numb to life until he and his best friend (Paul Capsis) have a violent run-in with the cops.

Director: Ana Kokkinos
Screenwriter: Andrew Bovell, Ana Kokkinos, Mira Robertson
Genre: Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language: English (Australia)
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 10, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA): $378.7K
Runtime: 1h 44m

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