You won't be disappointed!

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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.

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 wasn't searching for a movie about aids. The subject usually gives me a very uneasy feeling. I don't want to remember those days when some very good friends of mine died in agony in front of my eyes. I was quite young back then, and did I really understand what happened? No, when you're young life looks endless. So when this movie, unexpectedly for me, because I had not read anything about it, brought up the aids subject, I had to take a deep breath. But the movie is so well executed that it is much more than an aids drama. This movie is a piece of human history and every high school student should see it. I am in my 50s and now aids is something of the past, thanks to great medicine. It cuts through my heart that young men like ones in this film had no chance at all. Especially in the 80s gay liberation wasn't that far, and so much human needs have been denied to these men. Thank god society has improved on these levels, and it only could by telling these important stories.

I was given the book by a friend from Australia in about '97,I have read it countless times through the years.I never thought anyone would be able to bring the story to the screen, as Tim had written a remarkable story.Finally seeing the movie, I can only say that it does indeed do the book justice. No movie can wholly compete with a brilliant and beautifully crafted book, the best it can hope to do is convey the story and the spirit of the book - this movie does just that. I fell in love with John and Tim all over again, 19 years later. The love they shared, the pain they endured both John's physical and Tim's emotional came back to me as emotionally as it had in the book. (I wept through the end of the book) Was my emotional response a reaction to the movie on it's own, or in part to the memory of the book? I do not know. I do know that Craig Stott's portrayal of John was, for me, spot on, as was Ryan Corr's portrayal of Tim. The story, the spirit and the essence of these two beautiful men is definitely captured and resonate through this film.