Perceptive, intelligent, realistic look at two guys connecting and the possibility of a future. This is a "romantic" film in the sense that it looks at the very first, tentative ways two people approach each other. But it focuses only on a weekend. Russell and Glen meet in a Nottingham bar on a Friday and have two nights and and an afternoon together. They're very different people. Russell works as a lifeguard. He not fully out as a gay man, and we learn he went through a series of foster homes as a child, along with another boy who remains his best friend. He has a "romantic" outlook, and would like to meet someone for a relationship. Glen is an artist who apparently scrapes by, living with a room mate. He's out to everyone, brutally honest and not afraid of being judged by others. Russell is too closed-down, says Glen, he should be more up front with others about himself. They have a couple of lengthy discussions about their differences and they gradually influence each other, so in the end they are both more or less on the same page. The sex scenes are not especially graphic--but they convey what looks like real intimacy and the very beginning of an emotional connection. When Glen tells Russell that he is leaving on Sunday, it puts pressure on their relationship, despite the resistance to that on the part of Glen. Something real seems to be happening between them and he's going to America for two years for an art teaching post. Despite his insistence that he does not want a boyfriend, it's very clear that Glen is conflicted about leaving.
This is a strong film because it shows contemporary gay men in a realistic light, something we wouldn't see again until GOD'S OWN COUNTRY, six years later. They're in their early 30s, both attractive, but not camera-ready model types. They're smart, quirky, from working-class backgrounds--they seem like real people. Actors Tom Cullen and Chris New create lived-in, believable characters. The film ends with the possibility of love. A close examination of how people begin together, It doesn't judge or make fantasy-type predictions.
This is a strong film because it shows contemporary gay men in a realistic light, something we wouldn't see again until GOD'S OWN COUNTRY, six years later. They're in their early 30s, both attractive, but not camera-ready model types. They're smart, quirky, from working-class backgrounds--they seem like real people. Actors Tom Cullen and Chris New create lived-in, believable characters. The film ends with the possibility of love. A close examination of how people begin together, It doesn't judge or make fantasy-type predictions.