|
Weekend
| Released |
11 November 2011 |
| Director |
Andrew Haigh |
| Starring |
Tom Cullen, Chris New |
| Writer(s) |
Andrew Haigh |
| Producer(s) |
Tristan Goligher |
| Origin |
United Kingdom |
| Running Time |
96 minutes |
| Genre |
Drama, romance |
| Rating |
TBC |
|
|
Straight Shooter.
There is nothing more complicated than love. People can become obsessed with their jobs, fanatical about hobbies and consumed by religion. However, love can be so entangled with all its surroundings that the answer is far from simple and forever complex.
Weekend is on the face of it a love story but it is by no means your run of the mill romantic movie. Set in Nottingham, Tom Cullen plays Russell, a gay guy who unexpectedly ends up spending an almost surreal weekend with a complete stranger named Glen after meeting him in a gay bar. The two appear vastly different in that one is shy and longs to have the courage to be more open about his sexuality while the other, Glen, seems to glorify the, “Sod you, I am what I am” attitude aimed at the heterosexual world.
However, upon learning more about each character their securities and, more importantly, insecurities intertwine as they go on a two-day binge of drink, drugs and sex. Fuelling their fascination for each other are intense discussions about not only who they are, their individual pasts and futures, but also how the power of love can be misconceived. The fact that they are gay doesn't and shouldn't matter, and halfway through the film it becomes obvious that this is a movie directed at any relationship's wonders and burdens in modern society.
Yet, would the footage have been so hard-hitting if it centred around a man and a woman instead? Indeed, that in itself may be one of the key points of Andrew Haigh's feature debut. That is up for debate because, by all accounts, it doesn't matter who the characters are – it is the concept that is being portrayed. Glen admits on the second day that he is emigrating to attend art college in America and their resultant experience is of any pair that would desperately lust to get to know each other in what little time was available.
This film is not perfect but, having said that, it is quite difficult to ascertain anything major that is essentially wrong with it. There doesn't really feel like there is the regular beginning, middle and end of normal screenplays, which perhaps meshes in nicely with the theme. Weekend isn't overbearingly emotional but it invokes supplementary thoughts of which answers aren't really known.
- David Caulfield |
