The Review: Teenage-life is full of highs and lows-especially for females. Girls we have all been there. Persistence of hormonal episodes including; tantrums, selfishness and alterations of personality may put some strain on the family home from time to time. 'Family Weekend' elicits this strain through the character, Emily Smith, role-played perfectly by Olesya Rulin, she is a hugely competitive and strong-minded teenager who speculates her parent's roles and determines to change their parenting style-claiming it is simply not good enough and teaches them a lesson.
'Family Weekend' has a very straight forward plot; Emily Smith, an energetic and dedicated sporting champion, who practices daily, wins the Rope-Jumping Championship. As she is awarded the trophy, she scans the crowd and realises her parents have not attended. She immediately deems the situation to be a result of bad parenting due to them not having believed in her passion for sport. She decides to confront them about the importance of this achievement in her life.
She begins the confrontation with: "Where were you both at 3.30 today"? This is just one of the lines where she seems to put her parents into grovelling situations, some where they are detained speechless. Her parent's react rather relaxed and hope to shake the discerning situation affecting their parenting off by simply claiming they had 'work commitments'.
At this point, Emily bribes her younger siblings and her elder brother ,who pretends to be homosexual, into tying the parents up to chairs and holding them hostage to teach them a lesson about parenting. During the 24hour hostage, the mother's boyfriend arrives at the house. A younger sibling lets him in. Emily smacks him over the head with an object near to her and he is knocked out unconscious- this was caught on one of the younger siblings phone-camera and uploaded to Youtube, which seemed funny at the time.
"Emily Darling, I think it's time to loosen the ropes and listen as a family". This line construed several interpretations in my mind. Loosen the rope or loosen the controllability?. Irony springs to mind here.
More about Emily and her frightful attitude is learnt as the film continues which leaves her in a tricky situation at the very end which makes her realise that parents aren't all perfect and the 'knitty gritty' of being in trouble and having to be 'bailed out' , quite literally, peels the wool away from her eyes.
If you enjoy films where the protagonist summons a reality check and ones with 'happy family' endings then this film may be right for you. Though give it half an hour, it takes a while to get into.
Reviewed By: Rachael Gilbert
Join the debate on our Facebook Group (www.facebook.com/groups/Filmsploitation) or on our website (www.thefilmpodcast.co.uk)
'Family Weekend' has a very straight forward plot; Emily Smith, an energetic and dedicated sporting champion, who practices daily, wins the Rope-Jumping Championship. As she is awarded the trophy, she scans the crowd and realises her parents have not attended. She immediately deems the situation to be a result of bad parenting due to them not having believed in her passion for sport. She decides to confront them about the importance of this achievement in her life.
She begins the confrontation with: "Where were you both at 3.30 today"? This is just one of the lines where she seems to put her parents into grovelling situations, some where they are detained speechless. Her parent's react rather relaxed and hope to shake the discerning situation affecting their parenting off by simply claiming they had 'work commitments'.
At this point, Emily bribes her younger siblings and her elder brother ,who pretends to be homosexual, into tying the parents up to chairs and holding them hostage to teach them a lesson about parenting. During the 24hour hostage, the mother's boyfriend arrives at the house. A younger sibling lets him in. Emily smacks him over the head with an object near to her and he is knocked out unconscious- this was caught on one of the younger siblings phone-camera and uploaded to Youtube, which seemed funny at the time.
"Emily Darling, I think it's time to loosen the ropes and listen as a family". This line construed several interpretations in my mind. Loosen the rope or loosen the controllability?. Irony springs to mind here.
More about Emily and her frightful attitude is learnt as the film continues which leaves her in a tricky situation at the very end which makes her realise that parents aren't all perfect and the 'knitty gritty' of being in trouble and having to be 'bailed out' , quite literally, peels the wool away from her eyes.
If you enjoy films where the protagonist summons a reality check and ones with 'happy family' endings then this film may be right for you. Though give it half an hour, it takes a while to get into.
Reviewed By: Rachael Gilbert
Join the debate on our Facebook Group (www.facebook.com/groups/Filmsploitation) or on our website (www.thefilmpodcast.co.uk)