Weekend 2011

*Weekend* is one of those movies that understands being gay in a way that a lot of movies about gay people somehow completely fail to. not because it has anything particularly groundbreaking to say, but because it understands that sometimes the most intimate thing two men can do is sit around getting high, talking absolute bullshit, and accidentally revealing their entire emotional history.

Russell and Glen have approximately two days together, and somehow manage to fit an entire relationship into them, including the awkward beginning, the ideological disagreements, the sex, the tenderness, and the inevitable realization that wanting something doesn't necessarily mean you get to keep it.

what really got me is how differently they approach being gay. Glen wants to make a statement out of everything, Russell would rather just exist without having to explain himself. neither is entirely wrong, which makes their conversations feel painfully familiar.

Andrew Haigh lets everything breathe. no dramatic declarations, no manipulative soundtrack demanding you cry. just two people briefly making each other's lives bigger.

it's romantic without being sentimental, sexy without being performative, and devastating without really trying.

anyway, congratulations to this movie for making me emotionally invested in two men having conversations in a Nottingham apartment.