/Holding the Man (2015).jpg)
Holding the Man
- Director: Neil Armfield
- Writer: Tommy Murphy
- Producer: Rosemary Blight; Kylie Du Fresne
CGiii Comment
Before posting this review...the book has got to be read.
Just to whet your appetite...the film is an emotional rollercoaster ride. Jarring, jolting and joyous.
Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce, Anthony Lapaglia...all have to be congratulated for supporting a small home-grown film...more big-named actors should do the same.
Okay...that's the book read. Not the greatest book ever written...but, what in lacks in literary skill is compensated by truth and an agonising, deeply-felt, heart-breaking emotion.
As expected, a few 'changes' have been made...but, thankfully, the film (well-made as it is) retains all that agonising, deeply-felt, heart-breaking emotion.
Call it artistic licence or budgetary constraints...the same actors are used from their teen years to their early 30s...but, it works due to the immense and tangible chemistry generated between Ryan Corr and Craig Stott.
Timothy Conigrave & John Caleo were kids when they met...and, in their school uniforms, they fell in love. Against all odds and a brief hiatus...they stuck together - like glue - until the end.
Holding the Man will resonate with a particular age group - those who lived through those tumultuous, terrifying, tragic years. When HIV/AIDS was a death sentence...no gay man avoided HIV/AIDS...then, it affected...now, it still affects each and every one of us.
Watching two young men fall - physically - apart is torture. Watching two young men love...is a privilege.
The emotion flies off the screen...slaps you hard across the face...reminding you...this could have happened to any one of us. From time to time...the 'lucky' should be reminded of this...and, to remember those we lost.
Holding the Man does that.
To all my missed friends: Rest - dear souls - in your peace. I still love you all. x
Trailer...
The(ir) Blurb...
Tim and John fell in love while teenagers at their all-boys high school. John was captain of the football team, Tim an aspiring actor playing a minor part in Romeo and Juliet. Their romance endured for 15 years to laugh in the face of everything life threw at it - the separations, the discrimination, the temptations, the jealousies and the losses - until the only problem that love can't solve, tried to destroy them.
Cast & Characters
Sarah Snook as Pepe;
Guy Pearce;
Kerry Fox as Mary-Gert Conigrave;
Anthony LaPaglia as Bob Caleo;
Ryan Corr as Timothy Conigrave;
Tessa de Josselin as Anna Conigrave;
Ngaire Dawn Fair as Veronica;
Tom Hobbs as Peter;
Gina Riley as Popcorn Seller;
Craig Stott as John Caleo;
Lee Cormie as Eric;
Nicholas Denton as Tony;
Kaarin Fairfax as Wedding Singer;
Jacob Collins-Levy as Andrew;
Mitchell Butel as Albion St Doctor