Weekend

November 18, 2012 at 6:55 pm | Posted in 2011 | 1 Comment

◊ ◊ ◊ ◊ ½

I have to admit a particular weakness for the cinéma vérité style of film-making and if you are not a fan, you should probably skip this one.  Admittedly, this film is not strictly vérité; it might more accurately be called naturalism or realism but vérité sounds Frenchier and it certainly has vérité characteristics: the lack of a musical score, use of natural light, single camera shots, seemingly improvised dialogue, and (most importantly) a sense of the truth of what you are seeing.  It covers three days in the life of two young gay men who meet at a club.  The director draws out beautiful, nuanced and naturalistic performances from the two guys.  The film explores the difficulties of trying to form a relationship in today’s world.  Some of the issues are universal but some are uniquely gay and all are handled with maturity, sincerity and insight.  Not since “Shortbus” have I seen a film that handled sexuality in such a comfortable way.  Hollywood either turns sex into adolescent humor or makes it an idealized conquest that is over after a brief montage of tits and a man’s ass.  Although there were no graphic scenes, “Weekend” was able to deal frankly with the realities of gay sex and the insecurities that surround sex, love, honesty and self disclosure for everyone trying to find (or resist) intimacy.  From start to finish, this was a lovely, honest film.