By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Andrew Haigh
Starring: Chris New | Tom Cullen
Country: united_kingdom
Year: 2011
Running time: 97
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1714210/reference
Chris says: “In Richard Linklater’s BEFORE SUNRISE, two people meet and form a deep bond despite only having a limited window of time to spend with each other. Initially, Andrew Haigh’s film acts as a gay male take on that narrative, only with the sex kicking off the relationship and the courtship following it. After hooking up at a bar, Russell (Tom Cullen) and Glen (Chris New) awaken hungover in the former’s apartment the next morning. It seems like your typical one night stand, only before Glen takes the proverbial ‘walk of shame’ towards home, the two men discover there’s something more between them than just lust.
“At this point, Glen announces he’s moving the next day from London to attend school in Portland, Oregon for two years. He and Russell decide to make a go at getting to know each other better anyway and spend as much time together as the next 24 hours or so will allow. Their personalities clash, as shy, contemplative Russell struggles to find his comfort zone in terms of being openly gay in public, while the more raffish Glen says that he ‘doesn’t do boyfriends’ and masks a vulnerability brought on by a brokenhearted past. Still, we see their obvious chemistry together as they walk all over town, ingest copious legal (and illegal) substances and chat, debate and confide in each other late into the night.
“A low-budget indie film like this is a gamble unless you have a deep, incisive screenplay and strong, charismatic actors who also seem genuine. WEEKEND has both and it soars whenever its two leads are onscreen together (comparatively, the first ten minutes focusing solely on Russell feel tentative). In a time where gay cinema consists mostly of frothy comedies barely good enough to air on Logo, Haigh’s film is a beacon for exploring how ordinary people live and how messy, startling and beautiful it is when they seek and find a certain intimacy with each other. 4 1/2 cats”
Jason says: “It would be nice to say that WEEKEND is a good example of those independent movies where two people meet, talk, flirt, and fall in love in a short time period and have the fact that both people are men be a minor detail rather than an important one, but we’re not quite at the point where we can expect it to work that way. That’s about 50% of what this movie is, but the other half is interesting as well.
“Russell (Tom Cullen) is pretty well-adjusted; he’s shy, but doesn’t seem excessively uncomfortable either when hanging out with his straight friends on Friday night or in a Nottingham gay bar after. It’s there he meets the extroverted Glen (Chris New), a would-be artist who whips a tape recorder out the next morning and starts asking Russell what he thought about the night before. Despite this awkward start, they hit it off – so of course Glen has plans to fly to America Sunday evening.
“WEEKEND is a hang-out-and-fall-in-love movie, and like most of those it rises and falls on what the actors playing the central couple bring. Cullen and New make a nice pair, with the actors able to pick up on the aspects that are opposites both above and below the surface. Cullen makes Russell pleasantly soft-spoken but not weak-seeming; there’s a level of comfort with who he is that belies his shyness. New, on the other hand, gets that while Glen may be much more forward, he’s uncertain about everything.
“That all comes from writer/director Andrew Haigh’s script, of course, but it’s impressive how well the three work together. ‘Opposites attract’ is an easy shortcut to romance, but this pairing is more complementary than conflicting; Glen draws Russell out while Russell calms Glen down. The basics of the movie would be good even if Haigh had decided to play the characters being gay as just a detail, but it’s an interesting and important part of who they are and what they talk about. Haigh brings up a number of things that the straight people in the audience, at least, might not have thought about without being confrontational beyond the nature of Glen’s character, and backs up his words with actions (a lot of movies like this would keep the actual physical coupling discrete, for instance, but you really can’t do that while also having a conversation on how gays don’t discuss their sex lives in mixed company like straights do).
“Haigh does a good job there and also with just putting the movie together in general. For a talky movie with one character more
talkative than the other, it does a nice job of becoming more than just a wall of words, as well as using crowds as a good contrast for the characters’ intimacy. The scenery in Nottingham makes a good backdrop – even the indoor scenes look kind of overcast, as opposed to being a bustling metropolis like London or New York where there’s more of a chance to not feel like an outsider.
“WEEKEND is good enough to be more than niche fare; it’s a well-done romance before everything else. That ‘everything else’ is
impressive, too, well-observed even if not always particularly forceful. 4+ cats
“Seen 18 October 2011 in Landmark Kendall Square #3 (first-run)”
Diane says: “Chris already said a lot of good things about this film. I’ll add, first off, that a certain scene at the 3/4 mark would make this movie a winner, even if it had nothing else going for it. Great choices for shots throughout: close-ups in a cramped kitchen; a critical conversation being shot from a distance, leaving us to guess at what’s being said… To second Chris, I thought this would be BEFORE SUNSET/SUNRISE with two guys, but their personal issues and the politics of being openly gay in Nottingham (boo!) take this quite a bit deeper, and make the movie unique. Acting noms to come, maybe others.
“The section in which the guys argue, rant, read aloud, etc. while drugged up bored me–but then, how authentic!
“Two questions nag at me: would two young guys really have sex only four times in 36 hours? Is being gay so much more difficult in England than in the U.S., or am I naive about what it’s like to be gay in the USA?
“4 cats. (I know two people who saw this movie and went right back the same week.)”
Philip says: “I rushed home from my weekend in Pennsylvania, so I could catch a Sunday evening showing of the new indy film, WEEKEND which is miraculously playing in New Haven. I was a bit worried because it got a 94% critics rating which usually means I will buck the hype and not like it. Luckily I was wrong. This is a perfect film. The simplest story imaginable – two people meet in a bar and have a one-night stand that bleeds in to the entire weekend. Intimacies are shared, hearts are opened, viewpoints are challenged. And it just so happens the two people in question are young men. One slightly closeted, the other out and a bit angry. Post (and not-post) gay politics are explored, but in a subtle way how the current culture influences and affects the way young gay men navigate in the world around them. The cinematography is lush, the styling reminiscent of the classic British Kitchen Sink Dramas. Lots of gritty exteriors and interiors in Nottingham made somehow beautiful by the deliberate shots from the cinematographer, Urszula Pontikos. So much more I could say. The leads are both outstanding. This is undoubtedly the young gay male generation’s love story. It’s their Parting Glances, it’s their Maurice. And it’s important for two reasons. One because we need more gay positive films. Second because it’s outstanding. It’s the kind of film straight audiences are going to eat up. Because it’s about two men who live in an otherwise straight world. They are not in a ghetto. And the alluring thing about this for straight audiences is you get to peak in on the conversation and life they have after they leave your party, after they leave you at the restaurant, after they say goodnight. It’s perfect in that sense. Run and catch WEEKEND while it’s still playing in the theaters, or save it to your queue. This one’s an instant modern classic and a keeper. I’m already excited about seeing it a second time. Is there a higher rating than 5 cats? Sigh.
“Review courtesy of Reel Charlie.”