Welcome to Screen Gems, our weekend dive into queer and queer-adjacent titles of the past that deserve a watch or a rewatch.
The “Indecent:” Weekend
Notice how we use the quotation marks there, folks. Weekend, the debut feature from director Andrew Haigh (co-creator of Looking), found the immediate love of its audience upon release in 2011, where it took home major prizes at Outfest, Frameline and SXSW. The dissenting voice: the Catholic Church, which allowed the film to show on only 10 screens in the nation of Italy (the church owns most of the cinemas there…go figure). Given the subject matter–and given the near-pornographic films which don’t get blowback in Italy–we think that says more about the church.
Weekend follows the weekend-long hook up of Russell and Glen (Tom Cullen & Chris New), a pair of young gay men living in Nottingham. After a night of good sex, the two-part company…but can’t stop thinking about one another. When they meet up again, Glen reveals that he’s about to leave the country to attend a special art course. Are their feelings worth exploring? Or are they only inviting more pain into their already lonesome lives?
No doubt many a reader here will relate to Weekend, and the trouble distinguishing between a smitten crush and real love. The film also raises questions of monogamy and commitment, which it has the wisdom to avoid answering. Erotic, provocative and unexpectedly moving, we fell for Weekend on our first meeting. We have a feeling you will too.
Streams on Amazon, iTunes and YouTube.
Larry
Who cares ANYTHING about the Catholic Church?
wikidBSTN
Catholics – and apparently Queerty
vinnieboiblue
Be it the Catholic Diocese or Mormons(Latter Day Saints), all these religions are based on religions with agendas. The people who run them preach one thing and practice another. Either way it is all HYPOCRISY!
Hdtex
Too provocative for the Catlicks, but raping young boys is A-OK!
natriley
Weekend will be a top fifty for this century. It’s a true love story. That is the character’s love is visible and credible. A rarity in most romantic movies.
Cam
It was interesting in that you could see them starting to fall for each other and “got it”. That’s tough to do, and why I had high hopes for “Looking” done by the same guy. (Unfortunately, other than the final movie it didn’t really measure up.)
LloydNYC
Tom Cullen later played Lord Gillingham — Lady Mary Crawley’s suitor/lover — on 12 episodes over 2 seasons on “Downton Abbey”
CityguyUSA
Well of course the church has to come out against them because seeing them reminds everyone of what their clergy’s misbehavior with little boys.
michel_banen
If the main characters would have been under age the Catholic church would have loved the movie.
Cam
Too hot for the Catholic Church? Doesn’t that describe any movie with LGBTQ content?
BaltoSteve
First of all, I loved this movie. Seemed like IFC had this on it’s June Pride Playlist during the mid 2010’s and I watched it every time. Now, the article though, Yes, 8-9 years ago, there were issues with the release of this movie in Italy… But then again.. look at who was Pope at the time… Benedict was a Dick. The title of the article is the equivalent of saying “The Catholic Church Loves the Extermination of All Muslims” just based on what happened during the Crusades. Yes, it was a position the Church held at that time, but that doesn’t make it true now.
rocknstan
As in another fine film, “Cinema Paradiso,” the Italian priests are still ringing a little bell when they object to the content of a movie scene?
And in 2020, the Catholic church owns and operates most Italian theaters?
This factoid has been fact-checked, Queerty?
It’s just bizarre enough to be true.
Celtic
The Vatican and the Roman Church are a cult. They are further away from Jesus than Satan is. They start their mind control when congregants are very young. False teachings and misguided information form the apostacy and errancy of the Roman Catholic religion.
barryaksarben
IT is a wonderful film. Religions are about control nothing more