Weekender

A poor attempt at an edgy film.

The plot wasn't gritty enough to be passed off as a druggy film and with some areas, particularly the acting of a few, felt unrealistic.

A film to have on in the background, nothing more.

Weekender takes place in the 90's, following the story of a couple of petty, small time crooks Dylan and Matt who find a new outlet for their fun loving schemes, hosting raves.

As their success grows boundlessly they are swiftly brought back to reality when they begin to attract a more sinister side of rave culture, that of violence and power/dominance. The movie demonstrates these discourse extremely well in my opinion. The acting by both of the protagonists I found to be quite enjoyable, with almost flawless performances. The castings' were great in this film with every actor representing and portraying their characters traits very realistically.

The Weekender may not have the most extraordinary plot in its twists and turns, but is with out a doubt a good if not great movie, with a solid stand up plot-line/narrative and cast. This movie for me was definitely a 6/7 out of 10. I urge you to see this movie because you will not be disappointed. IT'S NOT A BAD FILM!!! (p.s. I don't know how this film could have such a low rating because it is NOT a bad film and not a film that should be 3.7 on IMDb)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Manchester, 1990. Dylan (Jack O' Connoll) and Matt (Henry Lloyd Hughes) are two scallywags who get by nicking fruit machines from pubs, until they spot a marketing opportunity in the shape of the emerging acid house/rave culture that is springing up in towns and cities across the UK, with hordes of disenfranchised, disaffected young folk breaking into abandoned warehouses to get off their faces and dance the night away, only for the authorities to clamp down on them. Dylan and Matt propose the biggest rave yet, and enlist the help of a top DJ to help see them over. However, it's not long before drugs arrive on the scene and the criminal element involved plunge the lads into a new and dangerous world that threatens to destroy everything they've worked to build.

Ever since it arrived over from Ibiza in the late 80s, rave culture has played it's inimitable part in the music, fashion and style of a certain generation of young people, and what it went to lead on to was arguably it's greatest achievement. Weekender attempts to be a story based around this phenomenon and is squarely aimed at the audience the film is depicting. At the beginning it starts out as sort of style over substance, opening with the start of what promises to be a funky, lively soundtrack featuring just the sort of tunes that made that period in musical history so memorable.

The soundtrack remains the best asset of the film, but it's worth sticking with the story, because although it retains it's sense of being frenetic and sort of jumbled and incoherent, it does develop into a more engaging portrayal of two lads living in a very recent time, caught up in an emerging world with unexpected dangers cropping up in it. The manner of the film is in line with it's style, with it's sped up shots and blurry camera moments giving it it's added authenticity.

Performances wise, O' Connoll is convincing in another notch to his resume, while Hughes, best known as the bully in The Inbetweeners, is pretty decent support. Emily Barclay and Zawe Ashton are the chicks on display, and they make their mark on the film.

The problem with Karl Golden's film is it sometimes (most disasterously at the beginning) gets lost in it's own style and doesn't have an engaging story to follow. But it still comes off as a fairly decent thriller, inspiringly set against the back drop a lot of people young back then can remember. ***

Charming little bit of early 90's nostalgia that deserves far more than the 3 out of 10 currently being offered up by IMDb users.

I can only assume that the people giving this film low ratings were not the people who were partying in the early 90's - if they were they'd be rating it far higher just from the nostalgia perspective.

Great soundtrack that pretty much corresponded chronologically (except for Kendo Nagasaki which was a much later track, but hey its a great track so who's complaining!!).

No where near as dark as Trainspotting and less schmaltzy than Human Traffic this is well worth a watch if you are looking for a trip down memory lane or if you fancy an glimpse of how it was.

Weekender follows a couple of young guys in Manchester in 1990. The pair of them are petty thieves but soon realise that they can make some money if they begin organising their own raves. Everything starts out well but serious problems soon complicate things.

Weekender is a likable snapshot of the early 90's when dance music as we now know it was just emerging from the underground. Many people started going along to raves and got loaded on ecstasy. While the movie follows the usual trajectory of ascent and descent, similar to films such as Human Traffic it doesn't have a 'drugs are bad' message. Instead the villains of the piece are local gangsters who turn up on the scene and start controlling things with force. Weekender does look back on those early 90's times with a certain amount of fondness and there is an effective soundtrack of house music to emphasise the sense of time. The music isn't the usual familiar array of well known dance anthems from the time; it goes for a more specific selection of tunes that ravers would have encountered back in the day.

In fairness there isn't anything overly new in Weekender. Its story doesn't really offer up any surprises at all. However, it's a good little movie about an important time in British music history.

(no pills were popped in the watching of this film)