Holding the Man (2016)

People are voting emotionally.

Good concept, poorly executed.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Had no expectations and was deeply moved by the extraordinary play of the leading actors.

Tim is an arrogant but charming high-school student with an ego the size of Australia, where he lives. He decides he wants shy jock classmate John as his lover. He gets what he wants (he always does) and rips apart both families in the process.Having gotten John all to himself, Tim decides he "owes it to himself" to play around, so he ditches John and ends up in drama school. He "experiences" numerous known and unknown partners, picks up the AIDS virus, and eventually tugs on trusty, faithful, genuinely loving John's leash so he can pass the virus to him. John dies, slowly, and in agony, while Tim (by now a C-list actor) plays the role of tender caregiver. The end.Thank God, it's not really the end, because Tim has the virus too and dies a couple of years later. Good riddance to bad rubbish. HE deserved it. John didn't.Knowing that he didn't waltz on to other C-list triumphs on the coattails of John's death is the only thing that keeps me from really, really despising this extremely well-produced and mostly well-acted movie. I loved the beginning, when it seemed that the two boys really loved each other, but when Tim started his scumbag, selfish acting out, I revolted. What a jerk. What a vile, loathsome, self-aggrandizing, self-serving jerk.

There are a lot of these gay author tells all/life story made into a movie films. They are popular at film festivals and win all kinds of awards there. I have yet to see a good one. I stopped watching this movie after about a half hour... so the film failed with me. I didn't care for either actor but especially not Ryan Corr (playing Tim Coragrave). 30 year olds playing teenagers usually doesn't work..and especially the way this thing was directed and acted. Tim Coragrave looks like some sort of mean queen (not that bad but almost) -- John Caleo (actor Craig Scott) is basically boring.Look there are certain parts of middle class growing up gay that I don't want to relive over and over or even see them in film except maybe briefly to set the stage... For one thing most of it was boring and the gay stuff humiliating. These are painful or embarrassing memories you want to mostly forget.This film should have been heavily edited. Also a more honest story would have helped ...Caleo as captain of the football team?--gay fantasy time here. The supporting actors especially Corgrave's parents were almost comically bad. So ho hum...Popular cliché ideas of glamorous lives (authors models etc..) make for mostly silly dull movies...Full of predictable icons heros and melodrama. Tim Corgrave becomes a writer(pseudointellectual fodder)...unfortunately a bad one I might add.I googled and this film unbelievably won all kinds of awards. Gay parts have become mainline any more so hopefully this sort of PC false accolade will stop.AVOID

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.