Weekend

"Gay sex and depression. Just what I look for in a movie."

"+ WEEKEND reminds me a lot of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. It's not just that the two male love interests meet each other by chance and spend the weekend together before one of them leaves for another country, but this movie even has a stylistic mixture of both of those films. The romance story is structured intently like SUNRISE, but at times it has more of SUNSET'S spontaneous flow, but with handheld camera work. The conversations between the two lovers feel real and intimate, and much like BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR there is an air of melancholy that pervades the entire movie, giving rise to the bittersweet nature those rare exchanges one has with another that almost seems to happen outside of time, but at the same time is fleeting in nature. Sometimes movies are labeled LGBTQ+, and though this label is apt for WEEKEND, it really feels like a sad intimate story about two regular people who are living in a society that doesn't easily accept them. The fact that they are gay feels more incidental. The human aspect seems to come through first, the sexual aspect is a close second. They feel alive, broken, uncertain, all the things people are, without feeling like "characters." The wide, lonely spaces of the frame, the lack of film score, and the detailed sound-mix of loud club music and city sounds enrich this aspect of the movie. It's also well edited. The narrative flows very well, and the runtime is a sparse 95 minutes. It does have some explicit sex scenes, but they always felt natural to the story. Not too long or short and always to underline the intimacy of the two characters. This movie is a wonderfully underrated gem with excellent lead actors. - Nothing worth mentioning."

"A one-night hookup becomes something more for a pair of young men in the UK. I found this movie realistic without the stereotypical gay characters. Just ordinary blokes. "

"Every time I watch this movie I'm in years. Such sensitive acting, brilliant genuine dialogues. I feel this movie is based on my true story. Only the main character here is much sexier lol"

"Really slow paced yet sweet movie. Expected it to be a lot more sexual but still super sweet. "