As its title suggests, Ana Kokkinos' debut sets out to confront its audience. A surprise hit at the Australian box office, this rites-of-passage story charts 24 turbulent hours in the life a young Greek-Australian in Melbourne. Ari (Dimitriades) is 19, unemployed and living at home with his immigrant parents. Naturally they want him to marry a good Greek girl, settle down, and forge a career. But Ari is too busy living for the hedonistic moment - - he's out dancing, popping pills and picking up men for rough sex.
A slab of urgent, low-budget film-making, Head On features a compelling performance from the strikingly handsome Dimitriades. Commendably uncompromising in its depiction of the central character's often brutal sexuality, it also lays bare the racial prejudices bedevilling Australian society, building to a powerful end-note of aggressive defiance rather than simplistic optimism.
