Now we travel to the UK for Andrew Haigh’s 2011 film, WEEKEND. I remember seeing this trailered at Cinema 21 several times, but never got around to checking it out until now.
WEEKEND is an intimate examination of a potential one-night stand that turns into a passionate and deep (if brief) love affair between two young men. It stars Tom Cullen and Chris New as the couple, and they carry most of the movie because most of the movie is just conversations between the two of them.
These are both great but very different performances. Cullen’s character is withdrawn, shy and introverted, an “out” gay man who remains as “in” as possible, with mostly hetero friends. New, on the other hand, is an edgy, brash, artistic type who is very “in your face” about his sexuality.
They meet at a club for a pickup, but find themselves connecting the next morning as New interviews Cullen for an art project. They end up hanging out later in the day and connecting even more, until New reveals this is his last night in town and he’s about to leave for the states for a 2-year art course.
This movie was very quietly charming and very realistic. It’s rare to see such minute pieces of a relationship displayed on screen in a way you can identify with. The movie obviously gets props for examining the love lives of gay men in an original way and from an informed perspective, but it also deserves to be admired for simply approaching relationships, intimacy and vulnerability the same way.
In fact, it’s rare I’ve seen a movie examine a character like Cullen so closely. I guess the fear is if you examine an introverted person with subtlety that it’ll be boring. Instead, it was touching, charming and romantic.
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