Nights and Weekends poster & wallpaper

Alison Bagnall, Elizabeth Donius, Greta Gerwig

Mattie and James are in love. But too many mornings and too many miles apart have taken a toll on them. As they struggle with the distance between New York and Chicago, their visits become reminders o...( read more  read more... )f the difficulties, not the pleasures, of their relationship.

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46% liked it

217 ratings

Critics

88% liked it

17 critics

Unrated, 1 hr. 19 min.

Directed by: Greta Gerwig, Joe Swanberg

Release Date: October 10, 2008

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DVD Release Date: August 25, 2009

Stats: 27 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (27)

  • her69eyes
    October 28, 2009
    her69eyes
    The latest film to come out of the subgenre of independent films dubbed "mumblecore" is "Nights and Weekends" - a collaborative effort between mumblecore darling Greta Gerwig and Joe Swanberg. The two worked together in 2007's "Hannah Takes the Stairs", and now they share the tas...( read more)ks of writer, director, and actor in this portrait of a long distance relationship.

    The genre is defined by 20-something urban hipsters - art school grads who, well, mumble their way through relationships. Consider Bergman's "Scenes from a Marriage", and add a few "likes" in the script here and there. In theory, it's not a horrible idea - but, the genre's limitations have been thoroughly explored by consistently dull works too ambitious for their own Converse kicks.

    James (Joe Swanberg), a video game designer based out of Chicago, and Mattie (Greta Gerwig), a nursing school student from New York, attempt to keep their relationship afloat despite living many hours apart. They certainly make the most out of every moment together - it's not long after the opening credits that we catch a glimpse of an aroused James strip and make love to Mattie on the floor. Their dates include an amalgam of activies constructed to make the film as quirky as can be - attending photoshoots, buying plastic elephants, prancing around Chicago's bean in the rain.

    The film, documenting over a year in a relationship, paints a portrait of both the things that keep couples together and the things that pull them apart. The problem, however, is that James and Mattie only seem to care about sexual attraction. Neither of them have anything interesting to say, and their conversations are the sort that you have with your friends once you've exhausted literally every other talking point.

    Now, I don't have any gripes with naturalism - in fact, I very much admire it. To use a contemporary example, consider "Rachel Getting Married". That film had similar "raw" moments to heighten it's realism, but director Jonathan Demme and writer Jenny Lumet were able to draw a distinct line between artful monotony and purely tiresome drivel. Do we really need to see Greta Gerwig wipe herself on the toilet?

    When the mumblecore genre drops it's gag-inducing self-aware quirks and finds something interesting to say, it could be an exciting movement. These are obviously not dumb kids, and some of them are, in fact, quite talented - Gerwig, for instance, is an enormously charming screen prescence. But I simply don't buy that a film like "Nights and Weekends" is revealing of the small gestures that make or break a relationship - James and Mattie are constructed so one-note and lifeless that it's impossible to assume that they feel anything at all. There's talent on display in the film, but these filmmakers continue to tread water with a sub-subgenre that, despite their best efforts, has yet to light the world on fire.
  • mistershinobi
    February 22, 2009
    mistershinobi
    I was nearly peeing my pants in excitement: my first mumblecore film... on a theatre in Mexico City! After hanging out with Joe Swanberg for a couple of days!

    I expected the movie to be all the things my dreams are made of, but it just blew me away and destroyed my expectations ...( read more)by going beyond them by many miles.

    Deep, raw, emotional, cute, hilarious, depressing, extraordinary performances and a beautiful cinematography.

    Some genius moments (the opening sequence is one of the funniest sex scenes I've ever seen and the banana conversation was simply wonderful) and a painful ending, Nights and Weekends was everything I asked for, and more.
  • robertovinicius
    July 4, 2009
    robertovinicius
    Recomendation : Filmcritic
  • blackeyedsurfer
    September 22, 2008
    blackeyedsurfer
    The trailer was breathtakingly beautiful. Now I just need to find it...

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