Product Details

• Actors: Alex Dimitriades, Paul Capsis, Julian Garner, Elena Mandalis, Tony Nikolakopoulos
• Directors: Ana Kokkinos
• Writers: Ana Kokkinos, Andrew Bovell, Christos Tsiolkas, Mira Robertson
• Producers: Jane Scott
• Format: Color, DVD, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround), Greek (Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround)
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Strand Releasing
• DVD Release Date: October 31, 2000
• Run Time: 104 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (49 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004YKR4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #105,208 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Head On" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Strand Releasing Release Date: 04/06/2006

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

192 of 194 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Reality at its darkest, October 4, 2000

By 

Daisy Lou "jickweez" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Head On (DVD)

I saw this film in the theater last fall (1999), and the protagonist Alex's self-destructive quest into hard drugs and graphic anonymous unsafe sex still haunts me. Hitting close to home, the movie helped me realize certain things about the nature of many gay men torn between being accepted by society and being accepted by oneself. The film, more than just one down note after another, says that sometimes we cannot have both. Alex needs to express his homosexuality but has grown up in a strict orthodox Greek family in Melbourne, Austraila. The family serves as a microcosm for today's critical attitude toward homosexuality and Alex as a symbol for the gay man's (and gay woman's) struggle for acceptance. Since he can't have both, he doesn't want either. And Alex -- a beautiful, heart-breaking, masculine man -- fills his day with the most gratuitous, disturbing acts imaginable. But the film somehow breaks through the barrier of self-pity and self-loathing by portraying the most extreme nature of gay men in a way that distances itself just far enough. We the audience promise never to get as bad as Alex. We walk away shaking our heads, trembling from a life that's never too far from our reaches. Head On is a must-see for any gay man struggling with identity and how it's better to accept the hate of others than to accept it as a part of yourself.

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gay-themed without sensationalism., January 7, 2001

By 

C. James Brown (Newtown, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Head On (DVD)

"Head On" is a film which many will see purely for its graphic content - indeed much of its success is attributed to the Australian public's fascination with seeing Dimitriades naked. Behind the sex, behind the hype, lies an artful examination of the pressures of a greek homosexual existence which marks a beautiful debut for Ana Kokkinos. Ari's beat-sex and inability to commit are rendered with a respect and compassion that could so easily have been replaced with a sensationalist approach. Kokkinos prefers to treat her subject cinematically, rather than in the straight-to-video style so many other gay-themed films are produced. Ultimately the film is a visceral but uniquely touching insight into its protagonist's life which haunts for weeks after viewing. The DVD transfer is high quality. There is little in the way of extras bar trailers from the distributors other recent releases.

101 of 111 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Angry Young Man Down Under, January 2, 2001

By 

John Cardenas "opera nut" (Ontario, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Head On (DVD)

It's wonderful to be able to recommend a gay-themed movie that doesn't pour on a lot of pc platitudes about the nobility and martyrdom of misunderstood gays. Or that doesn't try to envelop us in propagandistic sickly sweet sentimentality that attempts to show how the gay world is one big happy, touchy-feely family of "normal" types. Reality, as this film shows, proves the opposite to be true.

The star of this independent film, and really the only reason for seeing it, is Alex Dimitriades. He plays a darkly handsome, heavily sensual male gigolo waiting for his sugar daddy. He's so believably screwed up, however, that he never gives anyone a chance to get near him. You can see the angry edginess in his eyes--he's too smart to accept the bourgeois dream of marriage, a serious work ethic, and life in the suburbs that his traditional Greek parents wish for him--he won't even bother to get a job. He'd rather spend his days stoned and sated by the furtive, sleazy sexual encounters, usually in alleys, he indulges in. The rest of the time he rails at everyone within reach for their shoddy dreams and for selling out to conventional morality. And yet he's traditionally macho in spite of himself--when his sister's virtue is compromised by a rival Lebanese youth, he tries to beat him up--while at the same time being ashamed of his Greek background and particularly his traditional strict father, who won't even bother to speak English. And when Alex finally does get a chance to be with a guy who wants more from him than anonymous sex, he screws that up too. He turns his back on family, friends, and love. He's committed to the shadowy, superficial life of gay sex in the fast lane, even though deep down he wants something more but he can't bring himself to be open to it. He's a romantic in spite of himself.

Unfortunately, the movie surrounding Alex Dimitriades' performance falls short. None of the other characters seem to be as believably fleshed out as he is, and some scenes just seem unnecessary. The director may have been trying to do too much. She does pull off a few bravura effects, including a striking finale with Alex miserably consigning himself to a life of promiscuity on the margins of society followed by his performance of a traditional Greek dance. It's lyrical, romantic and despairing all at once. This character is fully tragic--he realizes his limitations all too well and yet can't stop wishing for more. He's too smart to hope. Alex Dimitriades' performance rings so many bells about what it's like to be young, gay, smart and going nowhere and hating yourself for it that it puts all other so-called serious gay cinema to shame.