So, having finally managed to see the movie Weekend after what felt like months of waiting was it worth the wait?

In a sentence yes it was, the movie was visually outstanding and so beautifully shot it felt like being inside of a toy camera. There were so many scenes where depth of field was used in such a way that anyone with an eye for photography would admire, and shots were framed with such delicate care (my personal favorite being an entire scene where the protagonists conversation is filmed through the gap between two standing passengers on the same bus) that I would say second to A Picnic at Hanging Rock (which is all together a very different movie) for me the cinematography made the movie all the more special.

The plot itself, a gay romance something now done many times within the world of cinema but in my opinion handled quite differently in ‘Weekend’, the two main characters here have issues that transcend the relationship that is trying to form on the screen and I found myself praying for that Disney style happy ending that you so often get in these sort of movies, I’m glad in hindsight that that isn’t what I was served as the director clearly had a point to make and it was made wonderfully in ‘Weekend’.

I’ll be honest and say that after the movie had finished and everyone left the cinema, it took me a good ten minutes to compose myself and actually speak again. I was left feeling quite empty, blank almost, even a little bit forlorn because never before have I wanted one character to say the words “Come with me!” to another so much in my life. Like I said however, I am glad that didn’t occur - because without that I left the cinema feeling that this was the most honest gay romance I had seen, it was everything it set out to be - it felt real, it felt current, it felt nostalgic, and it stuck two very homosexual fingers up at every American Rom-Com that has been fooling us into thinking that everything has, and more importantly needs a happy ending.

Weekend isn’t for everyone though, it isn’t a high speed movie - it meanders along at a nice pace (the cameo from Quinnford + Scout will hopefully please everyone as much as it did me) and with a brutal honesty that not everyone will enjoy. It’s not a movie that will leave you feeling fulfilled, but it will make you think - there are so many valid points raised by the two main characters (Russell’s theory on why he prefers ‘old’ things to ‘new’ ones was painfully like something I myself would say and Glen’s points on peoples views on homosexuality made me cheer a little inside), and of course the way in which the movie itself is shot is so unlike what is thrown at us on a daily basis (shock, horror it isn’t in 3D!) that it is incredibly refreshing that I recommend you see it on the big screen.

In short, I think Weekend is a little gem of a movie - that hopefully one day will be considered a classic in the Gay Cinema world. The best part of all however - there wasn’t a twink in sight!