Head On

"Full on. All night. Come on."

1998 1h 44m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 68

Drama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Nineteen-year-old Ari confronts both his sexuality and his Greek family. Ari despises his once-beloved parents, former radical activists, for having entombed themselves in insular tradition. Ari is obsessed with gay sex, although he does make an unenthusiastic attempt to satisfy the sister of one of his best friends. While all of this is going on, he's facing problems with his traditional Greek parents, who have no clue about his sexual activities.

“Full on. All night. Come on.”

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Cast

Alex Dimitriades
Ari
Paul Capsis
Johnny
Julian Garner
Sean
Elena Mandalis
Betty
Tony Nikolakopoulos
Dimitri
Damien Fotiou
Joe
Eugenia Fragos
Sophia
Dora Kaskanis
Dina

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ana Kokkinos
Writers: Mira Robertson, Ana Kokkinos, Andrew Bovell
Languages: English, Greek, Italian
Countries: Australia

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

28 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Greek, Italian.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jill Bilcock shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Alex Dimitriades and Paul Capsis and Julian Garner carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Full on. All night. Come on.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0138487 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 68 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ana Kokkinos directs. Jill Bilcock cuts. Produced in Australia. Dialogue in English, Greek, Italian.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

128 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
2Dialogue crosses 3 languages: English, Greek, Italian.
3Editor Jill Bilcock shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
4Alex Dimitriades and Paul Capsis and Julian Garner carry the top of the cast.
5Marketing tagline: "Full on. All night. Come on.".
6IMDB entry: tt0138487 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 68 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Editing: Jill Bilcock
Production design: Nikki DiFalco
Costume design: Anna Borghesi
Runtime: 104 min · 1h 44m
Status: Released
Box office: $378,667
Original language: EN
IMDB: Head On (1998)

Awards

AACTA Award for Best Editing

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Ana Kokkinos

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2023-08-28
★ 6/10
Alex Dimitriades is "Ari" - a young Greek man whose family emigrated to live in Melbourne, where he is struggling to get job. To kill time, he hangs around with his mates snorting cocaine and - on the quiet - meeting men for casual sex. It's not really a "gay" film; it is a much broader analysis of a young man with neither the roots of his country, nor of a relationship to help him through his rather meaningless existence. His community is trying to straddle their need to honour their homeland traditions whilst adapting to the "tolerances" of their new home - brought to a head by some fairly grisly homophobic behaviour all round in the last twenty minutes or so. Demitriades is fine, as is Paul Capsis as his openly gay/transvestite cousin "Johnny" but the rest of the cast seem there to reinforce the stereotypes and therefore add little to any meaningful dialogue. To be honest, it could be a depiction of any immigrant culture in any country - and falls a bit flat as "Ari" seems ultimately rather deserving of his shallow existence...

Production companies