Weekend (2011) REVISIT

I'm often drawn to stories which explore the impact of a connection between two people cross paths for only a short time. There is something subversive about the idea of a relationship being important when it doesn't last in our society which preferences the "happily ever after" story which is fed to us time and time again. Whether it's the Before Trilogy, the classic Brief Encounter, or the recent charming Before We Go, these films touch something for me about the lost moments, those things that will live in our imaginations. The stories where the ending isn't prepackaged for us, doesn't wrap itself up conveniently.

Weekend is a film I had meant to see for a long time, one of those I had heard about for a while but never got around to seeing. Now that I have it blew away all my expectations. From Andrew Haigh's incredibly honest screenplay (which I hear had plenty of improvised input from the film's leads) to the intimately intricate performances of those leads, everything about how Weekend comes together is masterful. The film ends on a moments of remembrance, and I knew at that moment, I wanted to revisit it all again right away.

Weekend is provocatively honest. It treats sex between two men in a way that feels the most honest I have seen it in a very long time. Perhaps something Call Me By Your Name could have learned from. The sex and physical intimacy of the leads is raw and real, not glossy and easy. It is extremely hot yet grounded in a very tactile reality. But the intimacy is truly achieved through the discussions, conversations, reactions. As each man begins to let his guard down and open himself up to showing a bit of who he is to his new partner, a partner he may never see again, the film becomes more and more fragile, more achingly beautiful.

And its ending is one of those perfect ending moments which satisfies everything that comes before. This is a film I wish I had seen sooner. a film that will haunt me for a while. I'm not sure if writer/director Haigh would be interested in following up with where these characters are at 10 years later (a la Before Sunset) but I would be up for that. I'd also be happy with how this film finishes and always just sitting with the ending forever wondering, relishing that feeling.

Weekend
Starring: Tom Cullen, Chris New
Writer/Director: Andrew Haigh