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Amanda Seyfried is uninspiring in this lazy thriller, which fails to mine its derivative premise for even the cheap thrills anticipated by audiences.

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It’s dark and tough-going material, but totally worth it thanks to the brilliantly gutsy performances and the hope of redemption always in sight.

Contraband

Derivative and undemanding, but if you’re after a cracking slice of cinematic escapism, this won’t disappoint.

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Weekend (Film)

by Colin Fraser | January 23, 2012 14:30 | Edited January 23, 2012 14:31

Never feeling weighed down by all the “issues” it touches, this ends up a challenging but humane and deeply resonant look into modern sexuality.

Weekend is one of the most honest accounts of the tangled emotional consequences of picking up on a Friday night to hit the screen in years. It is significant for its bruisingly real depiction of a very ordinary weekend in which not a lot happens. Two people meet, get drunk, have sex, get stoned, have some more sex and, despite a burgeoning emotional bond, will probably never meet again. That's about it. But what writer/director Andrew Haigh has to say about human connection in this very tight frame will resonate for considerably longer than its 97 minute running time.

 

What makes Weekend so special is the uncompromising way in which it channels into the driving heart of the matter: making a commitment to oneself. Likeable Russell (Tom Cullen) heads out for the night. He picks up Glen (Chris New), an uncompromising art student whose prickly nature opens up a big conversation about identity, sexuality, love, fear, and social politics. All of which would bury most films if not for the way that Haigh bounces expectation across the sexual divide. If it's okay for straight couples to kiss in public, he asks, why not gay? "Because we're ashamed," says Glen.

 

And so it proceeds with Haigh challenging the expectations of both his characters and audience in equal measure. Because Weekend seldom leaves its apartment setting (the film owes a lot to Britain's angry kitchen sink two-handers of the fifties), we're placed in an emotional pressure cooker that perfectly suits the confronting drama. And much of that is extremely confronting: if sex offends, look away now. Weekend is a challenging film for anyone who's ever had a significant attraction, and that's most everyone. Sharp, exciting and blisteringly frank, Weekend is a must see. Although as Glen would say, "No one will. It's a gay film."