Head On (1998)

Nineteen-year-old Ari (Alex Dimitriades) walks out of a Greek wedding in Melbourne. He is young, handsome, unemployed, bisexual, and alienated. The movie follows him and his friends through 24 hours of excess, from a family party to a Greek nightclub, then to a gay nightclub where he meets up with Sean (Julian Garner), a dreamy college friend of his brother's who may offer a loving alternative to self-destructive excess. His father Dimitri (Tony Nikolakopoulos) calls him an animal and his mother Sophia (Eugenia Fragos) pleads with him not to leave home. Ari despises his once-beloved parents, former radical activists, for becoming traditional. His closest friend Johnny (Paul Capsis) is open about his cross-dressing, defiantly dressing up as his own dead mother, but Ari can’t face the consequences that would follow coming out. Instead he seeks short-term pleasure in drugs and anonymous sex in seedy alleys and public toilets. When Ari and Johnny are arrested and brutalized by a pair of cops, however, the chance for redemption seems very remote. The film does not have a happy ending.

This Australian movie directed by Ana Kokkinos is based on the acclaimed novel "Loaded" by Christos Tsiolkas. The film gained notoriety upon its release for its sexual explicitness, including a highly graphic male masturbation scene performed by Dimitriades, who is good looking, but a bit too old to play a teen-ager. Ollie Olsen composed the music. Ana Kokkinos and Mira Robertson wrote the screenplay derived from Christos Tsiolkas' book.

C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)

Zac Beaulieu (Marc-Andre Grondin) is a kid who thinks he has the coolest dad (Michel Côté as Gervais) on the block. Mom Laurianne (Danielle Proulx) dotes on Zac, thinking he has healing gifts from God. "C.R.A.Z.Y." tells the story of a young man dealing with his emerging homosexual feelings while growing up with four brothers and a conservative father in 1960s and '70s Quebec. The title is derived from the first letter in the names of the five brothers: Christian, Raymond, Antoine, Zachary and Yvan, and also refers to their father's love of Patsy Cline's hit song "Crazy", written by Willie Nelson. When Zak's gayness emerges, his homophobic father becomes angry and distant, then eventually loves him for who he really is.

Yet another gay coming of age movie, this time from Quebec, Canada, where "C.R.A.Z.Y." was a huge award-winning box office hit. The movie is not easy to categorize. It's a drama, but also a flashback comedy. One of the film's themes is the waning influence of the Roman Catholic Church in Quebec society during the "Quiet Revolution". Period music is an important element of the movie, and a good portion of the film's budget was spent on rights for songs by Patsy Cline, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, as well as David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and many others. The Charles Aznavour song "Emmenez Moi" is repeated over and over in the film, often sung by the father. He also sings another Aznavour song, "Hier Encore", as part of Zac's 20th birthday celebrations. Original music is by David Bowie. The film was directed and co-written (with Franחois Boulay) by Jean-Marc Vallיe. The language is French, and DVDs are available with and without English subtitles.