Hand Off (2019) User Reviews

A scrummy coming out story

[Havan_IronOak · 7/10 · 8 January 2021]

Tale of a South African rugby player who comes out to his best friend and suffers the ensuing rejection. While there's not much new in the main story the film spends a lot of screen time in some alternate sanctuary reality that seems to have been designed by an over zealous window dresser.

The basic story is OK and the main actors are pretty enough and yet butch enough to pull off their roles as rugby players. That said, it's an evergreen issue and there are few wince-inducing moments.

Given that it's viewable free on you-tube, it's worth the price of admission. Check it out for yourself.

Spoilt by the fantasy sequences

[laduqesa · 3/10 · 7 June 2023]

This really was a disappointment. The truly interesting stuff about coming out to a mate one has a crush on and the repercussions this had on Jaco's place in the rugby team fell by the wayside in favour of ridiculously faggy fantasy sequences that had nothing to do with his demeanour or personality. Even worse were the stupid hints that the fantasies might have been real such as when Jaco found a piece of gold leaf on his forehead or when one of the catamites "appeared" at a rugby match.

The team dynamics after a couple of guys questioned his place with their team were given short shrift and tacked on almost as an afterthought.

Nothing was properly resolved as the film, presumably running out of shooting time, hurtled to a non conclusion.

Not recommended at all.

decent

[Kirpianuscus · 17 August 2020]

The heart of film- a fantaisie. Not the most eccentric, maybe too familiar. A coming up to the best friend and the confession who remains, always, the most provocative.And the silent answer. And the feeling to use it as pretext for a sort of XVIII chain of sensual scenes, the real slice of film, because you feel, after the first scenes, the insecurity of director to drive the story proposing the refuges from not comfortable reality as content of two paranthesis. . Good looking actors. decent story, the conventional end.