KnotStronger This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Movie Critic Where do you start with this amateur boring disjointed thing? It looked like it was filmed with an early Nokia phone. Half the camera shots are close ups of Ari (the protagonist). The screen play was the worst part though. It is one of those movies that are so bad they could be humorous. And I am gay! Back to the screen play trite comes to mind-- Australia must be 50 years behind the US (I have heard this by the way) in terms of melting pot stuff. Or some pseudo-intellectual lefty queen thought this the perfect movie script (much more likely). No one in US thinks Italian or Greek or even Latino any more it has all become pretty much main stream. Thank God. That then axes the whole PC gist of the movie...ethnic isolation/discrimination/fitting in--in an "angl#" world. Ari is as another reviewer stated gorgeous...why does he have furtive alley sex with an over weight oriental a scrungy old biker type etc...he could have anyone...this just doesn't fit. This unintelligent screen play attempts to be lefty (shots of protests against Greek colonels) and deep. "I am on the edge of a sewer and smell the shi@" "I am a sailor and a whor$"... I actually laughed at this last line. Written by an unintelligent queen trying to be deep. The writer is also trying to show the edgy dystopia of the gay world...drug driven desperate shadowy degrading back alley sex full of drag queens etc... The real gay world even I imagine in Melbourne is much more mundane and thankfully boringly wholesome. How this thing won any awards etc...?? Again Australia must be 50 years behind the US. Sorry if I insult anybody.DO NOT RECOMMEND

moonspinner55 Culture clash in modern-day Australia, as a 19-year-old Greek named Ari, handsome but feckless--and prone to snorting and shooting drugs--rebels against his hot-tempered papa, a man of values and culture but perhaps stuck in the past. Ari's inner-anger is all-encompassing; he lashes out at his family, at his diverse neighborhood (which appears to be an otherwise peaceful agglomeration of working-class Asians and middle easterners) and at girls who find him attractive. Ari's father is shown as disappointed with his wife and children, but even in the flashbacks there aren't any clues as to what would've made this man happy (he and his wife protested for Greek rights, but does he want his son to continue this fight--and what would the fight be about, the same issues the father fought for?). As Ari, Alex Dimitriades struts and preens like the next John Travolta (in fact, some of the home front squabbles, particularly one around the table, seem lifted from "Saturday Night Fever"). It's a risky role for the actor, who must keep up a perpetually ill-mannered demeanor, complete with lusty, angry homosexual activities which Ari keeps secret (his father hates 'poofters'); yet, Dimitriades, self-enamored and intense, makes the part work for himself and the audience. He's helped a great deal by director Ana Kokkinos, who also co-adapted the screenplay from Christos Tsiolkas's novel "Loaded" with Andrew Bovell and Mira Robertson. Kokkinos keeps the camera busy and free-flowing, although she stumbles when attempting artiness, which in this case is akin to dreariness. Some marvelous moments emerge in what could have been just another coming-of-age melodrama. **1/2 from ****

Jason Shaw This bold film concentrates on a 24-hour period in the confused muddled world of Ari an engaging nineteen-year-old. He comes from a traditionally Greek background and is having a hard job coming to terms with both his Greek background in an Australia that does not much care for its immigrant population and his own sexuality. Ari, as most guy's his age are is obsessed with sex, he is a bit of a player, having a few rampant sexual encounters during the span of this film, whilst most are gay, he does not limit himself to the male sex, half-heartedly having a sexual liaison with the sister of one of his friends. Ana Kokkinos the director is of Greek-Aussie descent, which automatically gives this tale an authentic guiding hand and some of the lines spoken by fictional characters are not that far removed from the reality of experience. This is a surprisingly gritty film, heavy on the hopeless dissatisfaction of life as a son or daughter of immigrants in a country that is no stranger to racial and economic tensions. Ari is a handsome boy; he has that rough, cheeky, yet handsomely provocative look that can melt hearts at one hundred paces. He uses those looks, along with his aggressive sexual hunger and heat to have random sex with older guys in dark alleyways, grabbing a quick fix before going back to hang with his equally dissatisfied mates. There isn't a clear road ahead for him, he knows that, yet could he be dreaming of a better tomorrow, the way most trouble teens do? It does not look like judging by a lot of the scenes and muddled moments. The film had nine nominations from the Australian film institute and received much acclaim from critics both in Australia and around the world for its harsh realities, passionate performances and authentic script. Read more and find out where this film made it in the Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time book, search on Amazon for Top 50 Most Influential Gay Movies of All Time.

nilsslarss 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.