Featuring two of the year's finest performances, as well as an unabashedly honest script, Andrew Heigh's "Weekend" transcends the typical mold of the "gay movie" without making any apologies or concessions to the prudish cinematic standards that have squandered the potential of so many LGBT films of years past. The film tells a simple story, but it does so with such rawness and complexity that it ultimately defies expectations and conventions alike.
The two terrific leads, Tom Cullen and Chris New, portray Russell and Glen, two men who just happen to be gay. After meeting at a club and taking part in what begins as simply a one- night stand, Russell and Glen spend the rest of the weekend together, drinking, smoking, getting high, walking, and engaging in beautifully heartfelt and nuanced discussions about sex, love, marriage, money, and the like. Rather than whitewash these conversations to calm and comfort uneasy audience members, writer-director Haigh allows raw authenticity to dominate every word spoken.
In fact, everything about this film feels real, from the suitably straightforward cinematography to the naturalistic performances, which manage to make the whole affair seem unscripted, despite the clarity of the story's arc as a whole. However, perhaps even more impressive than the film's realism is its intense focus and narrative drive. While each scene does come across as a slice of life, the movie refuses to resort to an episodic or seemingly random "lifelike" structure. Instead, scenes subtly build upon one another as the audience becomes more acquainted with the two primary players, and as these complicated, but always likable, characters develop a deep relationship of their own. In the end, the film culminates in a climax of massive emotions, only to settle into a sincere and sweet finale that elevates the movie to the status of a masterpiece.
While the harsh language, the drugs, and the homosexuality will surely, and sadly, drive some moviegoers away, for those viewers who are willing to open their minds, this phenomenal film offers up one of the finest romances in recent cinematic history.
The two terrific leads, Tom Cullen and Chris New, portray Russell and Glen, two men who just happen to be gay. After meeting at a club and taking part in what begins as simply a one- night stand, Russell and Glen spend the rest of the weekend together, drinking, smoking, getting high, walking, and engaging in beautifully heartfelt and nuanced discussions about sex, love, marriage, money, and the like. Rather than whitewash these conversations to calm and comfort uneasy audience members, writer-director Haigh allows raw authenticity to dominate every word spoken.
In fact, everything about this film feels real, from the suitably straightforward cinematography to the naturalistic performances, which manage to make the whole affair seem unscripted, despite the clarity of the story's arc as a whole. However, perhaps even more impressive than the film's realism is its intense focus and narrative drive. While each scene does come across as a slice of life, the movie refuses to resort to an episodic or seemingly random "lifelike" structure. Instead, scenes subtly build upon one another as the audience becomes more acquainted with the two primary players, and as these complicated, but always likable, characters develop a deep relationship of their own. In the end, the film culminates in a climax of massive emotions, only to settle into a sincere and sweet finale that elevates the movie to the status of a masterpiece.
While the harsh language, the drugs, and the homosexuality will surely, and sadly, drive some moviegoers away, for those viewers who are willing to open their minds, this phenomenal film offers up one of the finest romances in recent cinematic history.
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