I'll state the thesis up front: this diary is a plea for people to go see Andrew Haigh's film Weekend, which will be opening to a very limited release over the next week or so. At the screening I attended, the presenter reminded us that little films like this don't succeed through high-powered marketing, but through word of mouth. Consider this my contribution to that effort.
Why? I hate to burden such a small and unpretentious movie with a word like "important", but this is an important film, and it's important that people know about it.
Its opening weekend - on exactly one screen in New York City - was an unexpected success, grossing $26K. But that's not enough to guarantee it wider success, and this is a movie that deserves to be seen.
In terms of finding an audience, Weekend has two big strikes against it. The first is that it's a microbudget film with no-name actors, which condemns it to a handful of theatres and zero advertising. Genre films occasionally break out of this (e.g. Primer) if the premise is strong and word-of-mouth positive. This isn't a genre film, but it's received raves on the festival circuit (winning awards at SXSW and Nashville, among others).
The second, and more problematic strike, is that it's about two men who hook up for sex and find themselves more entangled than they expected. That's hard sell even in films involving big-name actors and studio backing. Never mind that most viewers have compared it to the sleeper hit Before Sunrise, and for good reason: it's a talky romantic film with a strict deadline hanging overhead. The fear that straight audiences will stay away has prompted some of the (very positive) reviews to pitch directly to heterosexual viewers: "Yes, it's a gay movie, but..."
I understand the reasons for this, but no, it's a gay movie, and what makes it important is that it's very specifically a gay movie rather than a standard hetero movie with gay characters. It's about the way many of us actually live, what it means to inhabit this skin and live and work in an environment that, even when surrounded by support, one never feels fully comfortable in. It is, quite frankly, the most effective presentation I've seen of the joys, insecurities, contradictions, and complications of the gay experience, or at least the one I'm familiar with. (We contain multitudes.)
If all this were rendered didactically it'd be educational but not very entertaining; instead the writer/director lays it all out subtly through casual dialogue, body language and things unsaid. As I argued in a comment yesterday, it's one of the best-written movies I've seen in a long time, with its semi-improvised feel hiding the precision of its effects (one moment involving a text message is so perfect it hurts.) It's also tremendously well-acted, and the lead Tom Cullen has already picked up a festival award for his performance.
But it's nothing like the usual gay film fare. I can understand how important it is that bigger-budget (and let's face it, sanitized) films like Brokeback Mountain have been for bringing in skeptical hetero viewers, and why so many gay films express themselves through camp, or through narratives of martyrdom, or through entertaining fluff (hey, we need that sometimes, too)... But this is the first film I've watched and thought, "Holy crap, that's me on screen", not in either of the characters per se, but in the sense that something fundamental to my experience was being expressed in a way that I hadn't seen before.
It's also - how refreshing is this? - set in a working class milieu and totally cognizant of class. Every detail of the environment is part of the characters who inhabit it, so the movie feels lived in and intimate. As the director said in an interview, films tend to be about the more well-to-do, but "a lot of people don’t exist in those worlds. They might live in ugly tower blocks but find beauty in what they do." At the risk of painting with a broad brush, British films seem to do this so much better (hello, Mike Leigh!) than we do.
Need more convincing?
The reviews have been just this side of gushing: currently a 96% at Rotten Tomatoes. Here are some of the critics:
One of the bravest, most honest and most accomplished stories of gay love and sex ever rendered on film. - Andrew O'Hehir
This is a smart, sensitive, perceptive film. - Roger Ebert
Astonishingly self-assured, unassumingly profound. - A.O.Scott
Look, it's not a perfect movie, and I could raise some minor complaints about construction and plotting. But for a movie to get this much right in a way that, frankly, no other movie I've seen has gotten close, calls for celebration. I just hope people go see it after all.
That includes you, straight people! This is a great opportunity to get to know a subsection of our community in a way you rarely see. It is frequently, as one of the linked articles above says, "mortifyingly authentic."
A final word: I don't care much for the trailer, which makes it look like a mopey bit of indie navel-gazing instead of the funny, complex, and subtle work that it actually is. But maybe it'll convince you anyway:
It's chock full of spoilers, but this insightful article at Reverse Shot argues that this film is "so emotionally in the moment that it gives the lie to the term 'post-gay.'" That sounds about right to me.
* Your individual mileage may differ.
Update: here's the latest:
After its opening weekend grosses and enthusiastic response at the IFC Center in New York, Andrew Haigh’s romantic drama “Weekend” will be expanding this Friday, September 30th to the Clearview Chelsea Cinemas in New York, as well as the Sunset 5 in West Hollywood, the Monica in Santa Monica and the Playhouse in Pasadena. In addition, it will be available On Demand beginning Friday. The film will expand to further cities, including Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and San Francisco, the following Friday, October 7th.