Why is cruising (at sea) so popular with gay men. Not the type you’d encounter in the woods or a cottage, but at sea. REVIEW: TIM BAROSĪn intimate look at gay cruising. However it’s Conigrave’s book on which this film is based, it’s his book about his relationship with Caleo, a sort of love letter to him, and we’re all very lucky to be able to see what an amazing, yet heartbreaking, relationship it was. It’s a story that’s been told a few times ( Philadelphia), but not in such a meaningful, and very realistic, way. Credit goes to director Armfield and writer Murphy for successfully bringing this story to the screen.

But it’s in the storytelling where this film excels. Plus it’s a story that some of us, who were around in the 1980s and 1990s when friends and partners were dying right and left from AIDS, can, unfortunately, relate to.Ĭorr and Stott are terrific and give it their all (Anthony LaPaglia is especially good as Caleo’s stern and unforgiving father).

It’s a movie that simply tells a story, a love story so enduring and epic that it’s irrelevant whether the characters are gay or straight. Holding the Man is one of the better, or perhaps maybe the best, of all the films that’s dealt with the AIDS crisis.