open pits, ready for the lickin’.
in a film brimming with heated back-and-forths, it’s a monument to the microcosmic capacity of andrew haigh’s weekend that both of the film’s polar leads can function as director mouthpieces. the inner tensions of homosexual life are still ever-present as cultural, communal and individual frictions, and haigh spreads that amalgam of incongruous perspectives over the tapestry of drug benders, frank sex talk and intimate encounters that characterise his poised, witty and modest picture. what makes weekend that much more brilliant is that this doesn’t alter its infectious, universal accessibility in any way.
most of the film’s talking-points find their edges in the outspoken, hedonistic glen (chris new), one-half of the film’s blossoming focal couple. an artist, in the process of collecting candid confessions of coitus via unscripted tape recordings, glen frets that no one will attend the eventual unveiling of his new project, because of all the gay sex. in a wry, rather-meta way, you can feel haigh’s own anxieties begin to surface here, in regard to this very film. but like glen, that doesn’t stop the sharp, politicized provocations that populate the blossoming couples’ ongoing conversation on what it means, and often costs, to be a homosexual in contemporary society.
the other half of the pair is tom cullen’s sweet, taciturn russell; a reserved contrast to glen’s prickly, outward veneer. what he lacks in a comfortable assurance in his sexuality is countered by an unsullied optimism in idealistic romanticism, and it’s here we most clearly see haigh’s open heart — a true conviction in the raw messiness of love. as much as the social disparity that underpins our sexual preferences is a topic of haigh’s screenplay, it’s not the focus of it. straight/gay dichotomy aside, weekend wholly inhabits the all-embracing commonality of one-night stands, romantic flutterings and crushing departures, and it’s the essence of which that requires no sexual specificity. while indeed a portrait of a gay relationship, the underlying commentary exists to question the necessity of that very preface.
haigh’s filmmaking style is befitting of his characters — as fluid and forthright as it is sweetly intimate — and the relationship between the naturalistic tone and his actors find an attuned realization to match its story’s. weekend would always depend on how its performances feel, and little describes how organic and pitch-perfect cullen and new’s turns truly are. as the boy’s eponymous two-day romance winds to a close, all of the film’s appeal manages to coalesce into a final scene made of the self-effacing wit, genuine compassion and humble ambition that all three will hopefully continue producing in their future works. let’s pray the rumors are true for the upcoming sequel week…
trailer here.
