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Head On

Play trailer Poster for Head On 1998 1h 44m Drama LGBTQ+ Play Trailer Watchlist
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58% Tomatometer 24 Reviews 67% Popcornmeter 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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Head On

Head On

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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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Critics Reviews

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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 Full Review Newsday Rated: 2/4 Jan 24, 2005 Full Review Jeremy Kinser The Advocate Dimitriades gives an impassioned performance, but the sleaze quickly grows monotonous. Apr 19, 2022 Full Review 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 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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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 Audience Member Bastante cliche pero con una mezcla explosiva de otros problemas sociales y raciales. Muy buena actuacion. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member The Greek spirit is alive in this Australian movie by the Greek Australian director,and the fact that it is so alive,tortures our protagonist. Alex Dimitriades has done an amazing job in portraying Ari with all his personal strugles and all his problems but something in the movie was not working for me.I don't know what it was,I can't quite define it.It's either the disability of the plot to give me the full spectrum of Ari's worries and struggles or the fact that his character wasn't fully explained,like most of the characters in the story.That being said,the most joyfull moments in the movie were the ones were the Greek music was the protagonsit and these were quite a few.It had some horrific and brutal scenes and these managed to make it really important plotwise. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Read all reviews
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Movie Info

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