'Weekend', 'Young Adult', & '2 Days in New York' out today

Highlights from this week’s film releases are these three very different films. From the talented writing / directing duo behind indie hit Juno (Diablo Cody & Jason Reitman) comes Young Adult, a dark, dark comedy about Mavis (Charlize Theron), a divorced writer, who returns to her hometown in hopes of winning back her high school sweetheart. Mavis was the quintessential “popular” American teenager… “everyone gets old, not everyone grows up” goes the film’s tag line.

2 Days in New York is the follow up to 2 Days in Paris, both written and directed by Julia Delpy who also stars in the two films. A witty romp, the sequel follows the same formula as Paris, following Marion (Delpy), new boyfriend Mingus (Chris Rock), and Marion’s father who comes to visit for a weekend. Delpy heightens cultural differences to comedic extremes.

But this week’s highlight is Weekend, the second feature from a unique new voice in filmmaking Andrew Haigh, which has picked up a bunch of awards and received passionate reactions from the press, such as this from The NY Times’ AO Scott, “perfectly realised, a present tense exploration of  sex, intimacy and love”. Weekend is a modern (gay) love story. After meeting one lonely Friday night at a bar, Russell (Tom Cullen) and Glen (Chris New) find themselves caught up in an lost weekend full of sex, drugs, and startling emotional connection. When Monday comes can their unexpectedly intimate connection survive separation?