Head On

There’s an aching sadness about Head On that you can’t fully fathom until the very end. Over the space of 24 hours, director Ana Kokkinos paints a fantastic picture of 19 year old Ari (Dimitriades): unemployed and living at home in a shabby Melbourne suburb, to say that he is caught between two cultures is both an understatement and an oversimplification. His parents are first generation Greek immigrants who fought against fascism, but brought their traditional values with them to Australia. Ari is a beautiful mess of cowardly contradictions: closeted but promiscuous; hedonistic but responsible; adrift in a city where there are so many races everyone seems to be an outsider. The tension in the community defies belief, even more so because there is so much passion and so little understanding between the two generations. Based on Christos Tsiolkas’ book Loaded, Head On is a film about freedom of choice... and choosing not to use it. Really human, really excellent. [Djuna Bee]