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Writer/director
Andrew Haigh, who has only made one other feature film (Greek
Pete, self-described as ‘A year in the life of a London
rent-boy’) gives us a startling, honest and breathless insight into not
just love
but gay love. And it’s a confident affirmation of the fact that two men
can
meet randomly and not be weighed down by the tired, seemingly
inescapable
issues of homosexual life and film genre. At the light, flippant side
of the
spectrum, we have the fluffy, flirty films which do not require
commitment or
discernment from the viewer and are all about ‘hook-ups’ and sex, then
bragging
about it with friends. They have titles like Slutty Summer
but are not pornographic. They are in fact Sex and the City
for gay men—which is
saying a lot! At the other end, there are the Philadelphia-spawned
dark-dramas about AIDS, self-loathing and
life-ending bad decisions. In between, I suppose we could say
coming-out films
are a beast all unto themselves. 1996’s Beautiful
Thing is a celebrated, tender British example.
Haigh willingly sets
out to give us something new. In my opinion, he triumphs. Russell (Tom
Cullen
is a perfectly moody Mr Average) has been at a house party with his
straight
mates on a Friday night but is itching for a bit of action. Enter the
local gay
pub, with the appropriate number of dancing men, camp music, drag
queens and
hyper-lights. Cruising for a good time, he follows an attractive guy
into the
toilets who may have (the lack of certainty is so true-to-life) shown
interest.
Glen (Chris New) is seemingly not interested. We are taken back to
Russell’s
tower-block apartment, where in fact artist–student Glen did end up
following. What
ensues is the meat of Weekend: two
unattached guys getting to know each other. This happens through sex.
But,
crucially, it also happens through dialogue.
And lots of it. And it’s great dialogue. Haigh’s writing is pertinent
and
earnest. The audience member is taken to places he or she has been
before, and
new ones. The two unknown leads are amazing, executing all the feeling
with faultless
subtlety.
But the film’s title
looms large over this nascent couple. After Glen visits Russell at work
(he is
a pool attendant), they have more talking, more sex, then
breakfast...then more
everything. However, all good things come to an end. Glen must decide
if he
will take up a course position in the US. The two guys are in that
awkward
space of getting to know someone and deciding whether or not to invest
one’s
time, hopes and heart in the other or not. This articulation of the
frailty,
depth and overall chance of two people meeting and being together is
what makes
Weekend so damn enjoyable. I will
definitely see it again. It is a most rare and refreshing thing: a gay
film to
be proud of.
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