Wonderful character development!

Just perfect...

Admirable film.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Not a terrible movie, would have been much better if they'd found someone under 30 to play role of Ari. I found some scenes to be disconnected and could have enjoyed the entire movie much better had the role of Ari been played by an actor that didn't look more like a 30 to 35 year old. Several times during the movie I had to force myself to continue watching.

Where do you start with this amateur boring disjointed thing? It looked like it was filmed with an early Nokia phone. Half the camera shots are close ups of Ari (the protagonist). The screen play was the worst part though. It is one of those movies that are so bad they could be humorous. And I am gay! Back to the screen play trite comes to mind-- Australia must be 50 years behind the US (I have heard this by the way) in terms of melting pot stuff. Or some pseudo-intellectual lefty queen thought this the perfect movie script (much more likely). No one in US thinks Italian or Greek or even Latino any more it has all become pretty much main stream. Thank God. That then axes the whole PC gist of the movie...ethnic isolation/discrimination/fitting in--in an "angl#" world. Ari is as another reviewer stated gorgeous...why does he have furtive alley sex with an over weight oriental a scrungy old biker type etc...he could have anyone...this just doesn't fit. This unintelligent screen play attempts to be lefty (shots of protests against Greek colonels) and deep. "I am on the edge of a sewer and smell the shi@" "I am a sailor and a whor$"... I actually laughed at this last line. Written by an unintelligent queen trying to be deep. The writer is also trying to show the edgy dystopia of the gay world...drug driven desperate shadowy degrading back alley sex full of drag queens etc... The real gay world even I imagine in Melbourne is much more mundane and thankfully boringly wholesome. How this thing won any awards etc...?? Again Australia must be 50 years behind the US. Sorry if I insult anybody.DO NOT RECOMMEND

Australian screenwriter, producer and director Ana Kokkinos' feature film debut which she co-wrote with screenwriters Andrew Bovell and Mira Robertson, is based on a novel called "Loaded" from 1995 by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas. It premiered in Australia, was shot on location in Australia and is an Australian production which was produced by producer Jane Scott. It tells the story about a nineteen-year-old unemployed man named Ari who lives with his parents and his younger sister in the central area of Melbourne. Ari is regularly disputing with his father, and due to his knowledge of his father's view on homosexuality he keeps his sexual orientation to himself.Distinctly and engagingly directed by Australian filmmaker Ana Kokkinos, this fast paced fictional tale which is narrated by the protagonist, draws a visceral portrayal of an Australian man of Greek origins, his relationship with his father, his sister and a male prostitute and his self-damaging rebellion. While notable for it's naturalistic milieu depictions, fine cinematography by cinematographer Jaems Grant and production design by production designer Nikki Di Falco, this character-driven story about family relations, identity, the conditions of Greek immigrants in Australia, Greek culture and personal freedom where a bohemian man channels his inner turmoil and finds his own expression on the dance floor and through random sexual encounters depicts an internal and explicit study of character and contains a timely score by composer Ollie Olsen.This somewhat political, somewhat historic, romantic and overstatedly though understandably graphic drama which is set in Melbourne, Australia during the 20th century and where a dancer from a very traditional background sets out on the nightlife in Australia to consummate his innate desires and express his revolt, is impelled and reinforced by it's cogent narrative structure, substantial character development, efficient continuity, scenes of dancing and the fine acting performances by Australian actors Alex Dimitriades and Paul Capsis. A dramatic, conversational and moving directorial debut from the late 1990s which is so pointedly in-your-face that it's impossible to misinterpret.

I don't consider this a very good film in the conventional sense, but it is certainly provocative and memorable. (Apparently it was not well received by the Greek-Aussie community, and the star of the film did not become a star). Note: Don't confuse this with a film by a Turkish-German director, Head-On (2004), also good but very different. Back to Aussie film: My judgment is undoubtedly clouded by my attraction to main character Ari, a second-generation Greek-Aussie who is angry and has a lot of issues (one of them being heavy drug use). So what do I like besides gorgeous Ari? Several times in the film he dances traditional Greek folk dances and he is most mesmerizing in these scenes. One of the first such dances is with his father with whom he has a mostly bad relationship. Ari's dancing expresses the conflicts and contradictions of the film and of course his own. (The film is largely seen through Ari's ineffable eyes.) The ending: The film seems to be careening relentlessly towards tragedy but it doesn't quite go there. It ends on an ambiguous note. Ever angry, but defiant too. And dancing.