{ London Film Fest 2011: Weekend. }

[delga]

Weekend
Director: Andrew Haig
Writer: Andrew Haig
Cast: Tom Cullen, Chris New
Trailer

“I don’t do boyfriends.”

Weekend turned out to be an excellent choice for my final event of the day, for a number of reasons*. When I picked which films I wanted to see at the Fest, I scoured the British Film Council selections as a matter of course, and this film caught my eye early on. Then, after my tickets arrived, NYMag’s Approval Matrix rated it very highly. (I don’t normally read reviews or use them as a basis for my decisions, mostly because I know that what I will enjoy from something won’t necessarily be picked up on by a critic, but I was pleased that someone else had at least heard of it, and had a positive response.) Lastly – tangentially – one of the promotional pictures reminded me so strongly of what is essentially a throwaway shot in series 1 of French crime drama Spiral (Engrenages). The detectives storm a hostel that houses deaf youths, and Laure Berthaud happens upon a sleeping couple, both male. She says nothing, doesn’t judge, and no other comments are made on the pair, which is exactly how it should be. But I remember wanting to know more about them, and Weekend seemed to me, at first glance, that exact story.

And it is. Boy meets boy; boy makes connection with boy; boy smokes weed and discusses the reality and politics of gay lifestyle along the way. It’s funny. It’s extremely realistic. It has moments of perfect tenderness. Think Before Sunrise if it were a reality between two gay men in Nottingham. That’s this film.

After escaping a house party held by his close friends, Russell heads to a club where he’s rescued from a poor choice in pull by Glen. Where Russell is conservative, grounded and practical, looking for a relationship and ahead to the long game, Glen is loud, confrontational about his sexuality, and looking to head out of his small-town existence. What starts off as a one-night stand becomes something else very quickly, as the two realise that they have found something complementary in one another.

One thing I did feel during the proceeding Q&A was slight irritation because the director kept talking about the dearth of films exploring gay lifestyles, choices, experiences, and whilst I agree – agree emphatically, actually – I would argue that these stories are far more prevalent in media consciousness than those which discuss lesbian, bisexual and/or transsexual and transgender stories, and the film community is sometimes a little short-sighted in this respect, even gauche.

Nevertheless, it is an excellent film, with tremendous heart. It is a film that I know a lot of you will love, irrespective of your sexual preferences. It is honest. It is open about how coming of age is not only a rite of passage, but also something you have to do repeatedly through your life; that the first time rarely covers all bases. It is honest about embarrassment. It is open about the need for validation, and the simultaneous annoyance that we should need that validation at all from those we love the most – close friends, family, our parents. And it is honest about how we form connections in life, be they two minutes or two days, and that what we need the most may come to us at the worst possible moment, leaving us changed in its wake.

*) Shame is one of those reasons; it runs amok over all sexual preferences, almost blithely. The other is Spooks. I have spent most of the day writing Dimitri/Tariq fanfiction. True story.

Comments

[belantana.livejournal.com]

1) This movie sounds awesome; 2) please post said fic with all haste.

[delgaserasca.livejournal.com]

1) it was lovely! and 2) it's almost done. Then I need to type it up and send it to beta. But am fairly confident that this one - dumb as it is - will actually get posted .

[belantana.livejournal.com]

\o/