Le weekend

Poor little puppy student wants to teach his class a lesson; instead of filming high philosophic sophomore crap, he just wants to film his journey to London. And by doing that almost kills us with ennui. Crap shots one after the other. A student really must have done this. A student with no idea whatsoever of what filming is. A random face enters the scene and remains mute for the rest of this overlong short, stupefying us with the same smile over and over again. Now, the voice-over becomes really stupid. Hello? Entering some voice for a better dramatic effect? This stranger is attracted by our boy who is straight but something...Oh well, you know what comes next. Regrets for having seen this. I am amazed that the BBC has it for view on its site.

The two leads are very cute, I think that Seb is cruel for keeping his secret from Rafael, but it's an interesting turn around I suppose. I like the general idea of the film and Seb's journey.

I could have done without the Anglo bashing, don't forget who came to your rescue in WWII my French friends.

The previous commenter couldn't be more wrong.

It's the story of a film student assigned to film a "journey", which he decides to take literally as an attack against those taking it emotionally. He's the narrator of the film, which is treated as a silent film, with the music, narration, and pleasant sound of the film projector added later.

So he films his journey from France to London, commenting negatively on what he perceives as English monuments against France.

Staying in London, he's befriended by a cute gay man, who is the smiling guy you see through most of the film. This changes our narrator's attitude quite a bit. The negativity is gone. But still, he's straight. The remainder of the film deals with a role reversal: does he come out to his new friend about being straight? How? When?

As this is a film about a film student, it makes visual references to iconic shots in other films, like Rashômon, Psycho, and La dolce vita. Yet the low-budget or amateur appearance of the film itself only adds to the realism.

The last scene might go by too quickly for some, but there is a lot happening. Remembering that the film is itself supposed to be the product of the events that happen in it, the choice of music throughout tells you all you need to know.

This film has a unique way of following a French student as he documents his weekend in London for a school project. He uses a Super 8 camera to record his every move, which is reminiscent of the home movies that were filmed in the 1960's and 70's. Although the images are raw and primitive and with no audio except for the narration, it does not however affect the quality of the film. Instead, the unrefined footage with the "burned" film breaks and the narrative works well and adds a dimension in capturing the essence of the student's experience in London.

The story is fresh, unpredictable and well written giving the viewers a window inside this student views of London, the intimate friendship he forms with a stranger and the consequence of not being honest with his feelings. This is a very entertaining film and enjoyable to watch. It is a real treat.