Why does everyone want happy lovey dovey gay movies with a positive ending? This film plays with all the stereotypes, raising your hopes and expectations and then keeps dropping you back where you started. Ari meets Sean, but misses the opportunity; Ari is drop-dead gorgeous, but still will choose the quick w**k with an older guy down the back alley. What a change from other gay movies, where two beautiful people bore us to death for an hour and a half. And the film moves so well between comic and tragic: from the taxi driver scene to the police station, while Alex just shrugs it all off with that winsome uninvolved smile knowing nothing is ever going to save him. Ari is so self-absorbed and self-destructive that he is one of the great anti-heroes of cinema. And his self-recognition when he says while cruising at the docks "I am a sailor and a slut and shall be to the end of time" is one of the best endings of any film ever. Gay life can be harsh and brutal so you'd better get used to it! But at least it is always edgy and vibrant ... and kudos to Alex D for carrying this film so well! Being good-looking alone would not have made this character so memorable.
Review of Head On
