“WEEKEND” My rating: B- (Opening Nov. 11 at the Tivoli)
97 minutes | No MPAA rating
Andrew Haigh’s “Weekend” is a sort of gay “Brief Encounter” about two British lads who hook up on a Friday night and hit it off.
The problem is that on Sunday one of them is relocating to the U.S.
Tom Cullen, Chris New in "Weekend"
There’s some sex in “Weekend,” but for the most part this is a talkfest.
Russell (Tom Cullen) is out to his friends but tends to soft-pedal his sexuality in public.
Glen (Chris New) is just the opposite. He’s not the least bit shy about being a homosexual and bitterly resents being part of a society where straight people can be affectionate anywhere, any time, but gays are expected to tone it down.
The two men’s conflicting views provide most of the dramatic heat. The film works well enough as a boy-meets-boy romance, but it’s their different approaches to being gay that generate the piece’s real substance.
Haigh takes a fly-on-the-wall approach: handheld camera, matter-of-fact dialogue, unhurried pace and low-keyed performances.
“Weekend” won a grand jury award at this year’s L.A. Outfest; it’s a serious film that embraces the differences in gay thought and feeling.
That it should appeal to thinking gay audiences is obvious. Don’t know whether it will find favor with straight viewers…it may be too much of an insider’s look. And those thick Brit accents…maybe subtitles?
| Robert W. Butler
Butler's Cinema Scene 