Holding the Man (2016)

So much average

It is a performances centric movie

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

I should have remembered that a movie which opens with a scene from Romeo and Juliet is not going to leave me feeling light and happy. Holding the Man lived up to the expectation.In the sphere of tragedy amidst love I choose to not watch or ready anymore. Too many people I've loved are now dead. I am now in the green room so to speak, although I hope my call to my final performance is years away. Nevertheless I my mind now includes the deceased names of people I've loved or at least liked but are no longer here in bodily form.Watching Holding the Man did not lighten that load any. Hell, it may have added some weight.That is what is damnable about this movie. It does not let up. It's trajectory of love finding its own level is frustrating at times but seems to be clear. Cupids arrow is direct and the love between these boys is direct. Parents get in the way but they find their way. That's great and leads me to think this will be a movie with a happy ending.Then the scene. Our first introduction to AIDS in the movie suddenly shifts the direction of what could have been a pleasant train ride. The train hit a switch which sends the train, John and Tim and us in a very different direction. A direction I wish it did not go.Do I sound like Debbie Downer? Let's just say that the movie is so well done that it carried me through several emotions (including the "Don't do that, you'll be discovered" sort of emotion). Then it rides into the tragedy that AIDS through into our lives. The inevitable, unfair, unjust crime of nature against humanity.Include the awful scene of John's memorial service where Tim sits in a row with everyone else, and where the priest expresses gratitude to Tim and another friend for being with John during his last few months.I could not help but want to stand in that church and scream at the priest, "F#% liar!" I really wish someone did. But that apparently did not happen.It did make me realize that religions such as Catholicism are still babies where the real world is concerned. As an institution its leadership are adults who refuse to grow up and deal with reality. Not to neglect when religious groups stand against evil in the world. But where sexuality is concerned so many religious remain children. They are incompetent to dealing with matters of sexuality.Don't know if or when I can watch this film again. It is just too painful to know that such beautiful, Heavenly blessed love between two boys who grow into men, who still love each other in ways that religious folks often can only fantasize about, were removed from this life so quickly and so easily.A beautiful, lovely movie. There were times when I was wondering where it was going. The length is a bit much. But for excellent story telling, using the power of film this movie deserves a rating of 10.

Perhaps the good felling I felt when watching Holding The Man is the intense acting of Ryan Corr. He gives the film such a radiance that not even the dark events of AIDS can destroy. It's because of him I would rate the film so high. Not that the other actors are bad. It's simple because we don't feel bad during the screening; we simply accept the facts with a painful smile. Corr is so good in portraying an immensely lovable person we assume the facts as they are. The AIDS crisis won't destroy love, it simply turn it more intense. As we move back and forward through the film, we go on learning the power of love. The film doesn't tell us what the characters do for a living, but we understand they have very little, as when they show the parting of the belongings of the one who is dying, but that doesn't matter. They are full of life in that environment of death at stake. It isn't properly the story that holds us on, but Tim's character that never leaves a moment of sorrow. I'd highly recommend it, if only for showing that AIDS isn't the worst. The worst is lack of love, and that abounds in the whole movie.

When you rate a film a 10, the review is harder because it usually means you are gushing with so much good news about the film, that you don't know where to begin.I'll just hit three points, and to be safe, I'M REPEATING MY SPOILER ALERT HERE. THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. 1. The casting is fantastic. The chemistry between Ryan and Craig is unlike anything I've ever seen in film, and I'm an oldie with an almost catalog knowledge of classic films. So, going back to the 1930s, I can't remember when I've seen two on-screen lovers who were more engaging and compelling. By the time the story ends, you feel like you gained and lost two great friends, so REAL is their relationship with each other. It translates over to a wonderful invitation to US, and we end up feeling lost when we lose them. (Yes, because this movie sticks with one well after one has seen it, I may be clouded by that glow, but, for now, that is my assessment of their chemistry.) 2. If you lived through the '80s and early '90s, as an adult, this film will resonate well and actually dredge up some horrifying memories of the time. If you have children in their 20s, it's even more oddly devastating to see (double spoiler alert here) two men being given a death sentence in their mid-twenties. (Triple spoiler alert here.) Although it takes years for the executioner to arrive, they are handed that death sentence at a very young age (25 - John; and 26 - Tim). To watch them have to cope with that as a couple, to see them thrown into such a nightmare at such a young age is tragic on an epic level. The day they get the bad news, they should be thinking about first jobs and maybe buying a car. It's astounding what they are instead handed. The grace with which they approach it is heartbreaking to watch.3. (Quadruple spoiler alert here.) Hearing Tim's voice at the end SLAYS. The constant stiff upper lip of both of their journeys is the thing that makes this film stick with you for hours or days after you see it. It's the dictionary definition of impressive. It impresses itself on you with its hard truths and horrid reality: Two people you grow to love leave you at the end of the film, and they do it bravely. It breaks your heart and leaves you with a strange longing.

...showing the story of two teenagers through to their early 30s. Both the book and movie were unknown to me, so I came at this without expectations. This movie succeeds with material that is very familiar--if not overly familiar--to gay men like myself. That in itself is quite an accomplishment. What starts out as a simplistic story of high school romance becomes an epic tale spun out for 127 minutes. I was surprised by the honesty of the story, and surprised that the two lead actors could seamlessly--and convincingly--go from teenagers to adults. It is not easy to take everyday events and stitch them up into an epic. This movie does that, and it does it well.If I had known the plot in advance, I probably wouldn't have gone near this film with a 10-foot pole. I'm glad I didn't know because I would have missed a really good movie.If you're young and gay and want to get an accurate look at what life was like for us in the '70s and '80s, this is the movie to see. For Americans, that it's set in Australia is irrelevant; the story was the same.