Holding the Man
Australian romantic drama following John, the football jock, and Tim, the actor with aspirations. Their high-school romance carries across 15 years – through discrimination, temptation and jealousy. Co-stars Guy Pearce, Anthony LaPaglia (Balibo) and Sarah Snook (Predestination).
"Published in 1995, Holding the Man - winner of the United Nations Human Rights Award for Non-Fiction - is one of Australia's favourite books. A tender, celebratory and refreshingly honest memoir about the author's long-term love for John Caleo, his Melbourne high school's football captain... Directed by Neil Armfield (Candy)... Adapted for the screen by Tommy Murphy, whose stage version wowed audiences from Sydney to London, it is every bit as moving, witty and inspirational as its source material." (Melbourne International Film Festival)
- Director:
- Neil Armfield ('Candy')
- Writer:
- Tommy Murphy
- Cast:
- Guy PearceSarah SnookAnthony LaPagliaRyan CorrKerry FoxNgaire Dawn Fair
Reviews & comments
Flicks, Giles Hardie
flicksHolding The Man could have been a mess. The source material is a memoir cherished by the gay community, riddled with complex emotional subjectivity and fantasy, that became an acclaimed stage play.
Based on the 1995 memoir by revered gay rights activist Timothy Conigrave, the film version struggles to avoid soapy melodrama and corny humour.
It is ten years since the release of Brokeback Mountain (2005), now widely acknowledged as a landmark film for the LGBT movement’s long struggle to be represented on the big screen. It was one of many cinematic high-points on the wave of such films that started twenty years earlier. The film industry has changed since then; the genre of ‘queer cinema’ is...
Poignant, honest, heartbreaking and incredibly romantic.
Urban Cinefile
pressThe two central performances are superb, Corr and Stott encapsulating the emotional journey to perfection.
Stuff
pressFeels like a cross between French Canadian family drama C.R.A.Z.Y. and Philadelphia, but with its own distinctive Aussie flavour.
Screen Daily
pressOwes much to the stage rather than the page, as the majority of its interactions and exchanges make clear.
Flicks, Giles Hardie
flicksHolding The Man could have been a mess. The source material is a memoir cherished by the gay community, riddled with complex emotional subjectivity and fantasy, that became an acclaimed stage play.
Urban Cinefile
pressThe two central performances are superb, Corr and Stott encapsulating the emotional journey to perfection.
Stuff
pressFeels like a cross between French Canadian family drama C.R.A.Z.Y. and Philadelphia, but with its own distinctive Aussie flavour.
Screen Daily
pressOwes much to the stage rather than the page, as the majority of its interactions and exchanges make clear.
Based on the 1995 memoir by revered gay rights activist Timothy Conigrave, the film version struggles to avoid soapy melodrama and corny humour.
It is ten years since the release of Brokeback Mountain (2005), now widely acknowledged as a landmark film for the LGBT movement’s long struggle to be represented on the big screen. It was one of many cinematic high-points on the wave of such films that started twenty years earlier. The film industry has changed since then; the genre of ‘queer cinema’ is...
Poignant, honest, heartbreaking and incredibly romantic.
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