Movie Review : ‘Head On’ Paints a Deft Picture of Conflicted Teen

Ana Kokkinos’ “Head On” plunges straight into the eye of the storm that is the life of Ari (Alex Dimitriades), a handsome, ultra-masculine gay 19-year-old Greek Australian youth who finds himself in rapidly escalating conflict with his claustrophobic ethnic community, with its strong machismo and allegiance to rigid family values. Anyone of any generation who has ever felt at odds with his or her environment can identify with the characters in “Head On.”

“Head On” spotlights a new star in Dimitriades, who has already been summoned to Hollywood, and marks an impressive feature debut for Kokkinos, who first came to international attention five years ago with her powerful short film “Only the Brave,” also a coming-of-age odyssey involving a Greek Australian lesbian.

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Adapted from Christos Tsiolkas’ novel “Loaded,” the film unfolds in Melbourne in the course of 24 hours--a fitting adherence to the Aristotelian unities, intended or not--during which one incident after another is propelling Ari toward an inescapable confrontation with himself. He’s a layabout in his immigrant parents’ home, certain that there are no decent jobs available to him and determined not to take the menial work that’s always accompanied by bigotry aimed at minorities; he’s not made the connection that his life is stalled because he feels compelled to stay in the closet, open only with a drag-queen pal Johnny (Paul Capsis), who’s as gutsy as he is reckless, and with his friend Betty (Elena Mandalis). Ari loves Betty but cannot connect with her sexually. Ari and Betty are increasingly turning to drugs for escape.

Photographed by Jaems Grant in rich, dark hues in images and movements that convey perfectly the chaos enveloping Ari, “Head On” captures the oppressiveness of his existence in his volatile relationship with his hard-working father, Dimitri (Tony Nikolakopoulos), an expansive bear of a man; and his loving, hyper mother, Sophia (Eugenia Fragos).

Naturally, Ari and his younger sister Alex (Andrea Mandalis) want to go out on their own, but their parents still believe the family should go out together. Whether in homes or clubs there’s so much Greek music and dancing that its communal warmth and high spirits become suffocating--the hard-edged rock music that attracts Ari and his friends never sounded so welcome. In any event, Ari soon breaks away from his parents to go out on the town, which means a rush of drugs and back-alley sex that is invariably a struggle for dominance in which Ari rejects all possibilities of tenderness as weakness; sex for him is in fact a way of releasing his ever-present rage and frustration.

Through Ari’s journey toward self-discovery, we discover the terrific pressure on young people to marry; the lingering, ferocious hatred of some Anglos toward Greek immigrants--and of Greek hatred of Asian newcomers. Hypocrisy runs rampant in Ari’s world, and Ari’s perceptive Aunt Tasia (Maria Mercedes) utters the film’s key line when she bluntly tells her nephew: “Find a girl, get married, and then it doesn’t matter what you do.” Later on, after receiving a savage beating from a homophobic cop of Greek origin (under the enraged gaze of an Anglo cop, both homophobic and xenophobic), Johnny tells Ari that “you’ve got to stand up against hypocrisy; it’s the only way you’ll make a difference.”

When we take leave of Ari neither he nor we know whether he will ever be capable of giving and receiving love from another man or of attaining the courage of Johnny. But he’s been faced with these choices and he can no longer escape self-knowledge, even if it should ultimately destroy him.

* Unrated. Times guidelines: nudity; sex, some of it violent and fairly graphic, though nonexploitative; heavy drug use; strong language.

‘Head On’

Alex Dimitriades: Ari

Paul Capsis: Johnny

Elena Mandalis: Betty

Julian Garner: Sean

A Strand release of a Great Scott production in association with the Australia Film Finance Corp. and with the assistance of Film Victoria. Director Ana Kokkinos. Producer Jane Scott. Screenplay by Andrew Bovell, Mira Robertson, Kokkinos; based on the novel “Loaded” by Christos Tsiolkas. Cinematographer Jaems Grant. Editor Jill Bilcock. Music Ollie Olsen. Costumes Anna Borghesi. Production designer Nikki de Falco. Art director Paul Heath. In English and Greek, with English subtitles. Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes.

At the Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 848-3500; the Playhouse 7, 673 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 844-6500; and the Town Center, Bristol at Anton, South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, (714) 751-4184 or (714) 777-FILM (No. 086).