Country: Germany
Review: “Home For The Weekend” is an emotionless German drama about family. Gitte suffers from clinical depression for 30 years, and is fed up of taking drugs all the time. One day she reunites her family for a weekend to announce her intentions of quitting medication. Surprisingly, husband and sons become afraid and discomforted with the idea, but the announcement will provoke big transformations on their behaviors, in a moment where everyone had relevant issues in their lives to be solved. The complexity of human relationships is depicted with disappointing effects, through the apparent calmness of the facial expressions, nostalgic music, and a strong sensation of emotional coldness. The clarity of the images and accurate photography contrasted with the too cerebral and almost staged performances, which weren’t able to extract the right atmospheric ambience from the conflicts. Once in a while, I could feel the weight of the words, but “Home For The Weekend” never took off from its rigidness, getting trapped in a plot that lacks motion and in a direction unable to express something profound from the situations. Despite pertinent in its vision, this third collaboration between helmer Hans-Christian Schmid and screenwriter Bernd Lange ("Requiem", "Storm") wasn't so satisfying, becoming an easily forgettable film.
