Holding the Man

As with most films adapted from the book, you'll only get half the story in a movie. The acting is superb and the story relatively faithful to the original novel but it has some flaws. Namely, I found the mixing up of dates confusing. They didn't really need to jump back and forwards, I'm not sure why they did that. There is a lot of sex with spunky guys which will get on the wrong side of any homophobes or the conservatives but it is a neccessary part of the story as it depicts a lot of how the gay male community interacts (I'm gay, I can vouch for this). Ultimately it ends in tragedy and is quite a moving film but having been one of my favourite books, I will always prefer that to this.

I am just as speechless as I guess the audiences would have been after watching the movie. I probably haven't cried this much since my boyfriend passed away because of AIDS as I did today. Tim & John are a wonderful couple. The days, months, years they spent together, the ups & downs they went through and finally the last days of John with Tim was heart-wrenching. I don't have words to express my feelings and thoughts. I just want to thank Neil Armfield to have made such a wonderful movie and to all it's cast and crew. I couldn't stop myself from giving a review to this movie. I think it's not justifiable that this movie has earned 7.3/10 wherein it should be a 10/10.

Kudos to everyone. Cheers!!!

...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.

I am a bit of a hard ash when it comes to rating and reviewing movies, and this movie hit all of the marks for me. It was sublime, and had me literally sobbing toward the end.

Being from America, I was not familiar with the book or the story, and in fact, only got the movie because of the cover art. I wasn't really looking for a movie that dealt with the early days of HIV/AIDS, and in fact, tend to steer clear of them because they are usually done so poorly, but HTM deals with it not only realistically, but with great humanity. In the end, the movie isn't about the disease, but the love these two men shared.

And what a love it must have been. Most of us could only ever hope for a love like that, and never actually find it. In that regard, it reminds me of Bridegroom. Both of those films leave you with the hope that fairy tale love really can exist in the real world.

Director Neil Armfield, who was at the charity screening of 'Holding the Man' I went to tonight, took a huge undertaking when he decided to direct the film of Tim Conigrave's autobiographical novel (A memoir that was an ode to Conigrave's lover and partner John Caleo). As Conigrave's book became such a well loved novel, and later a successful and highly regarded stage play. And now I am proud to say a very powerful and moving film.

The film 'Holding the Man' is filled with scenes that have such a strong emotional truth to them. Particularly for a gay man like myself, who experienced those years in the 80's and early 90's when AIDS took the lives of many friends and acquaintances; and when fear and ignorance of AIDS, and towards gay men, was the norm rather than the exception. However the centre of Conigrave's memoir was a love story that lasted 15+ years, and Ryan Corr (The Water Diviner, Banished, Love Child, ) and Craig Stott bare all in brilliant performances. Corr as the loud and opinionated Tim, and Stott as amiable and quiet John create an amazing chemistry on screen, and one that will earn them universal praise. However the great performances also extend to a roll call of top Australian acting talent that includes Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce, Anthony Lapaglia, Kerry Fox and Marcus Graham among many others. With a film spanning the 70's, 80's and 90's, it also has a great soundtrack of hits from the era.

Tim Conigrave died 10 days after writing 'Holding the Man', He probably had no understanding what a huge impact his book would have had on so many people across the world.

Read the book and go see this great Aussie movie.