MGFF 2015. American indie queen Patricia Clarkson is the aging matriarch of a dysfunctional bourgeois family, in this dark dramedy buoyed with winsome humour. Last Weekend's great cast includes Zachary Booth (Keep the Lights On), Jamia Suzette Mays (Glee) and Rutina Wesley (True Blood).
Wishing to gather her children together one last time before selling off their gorgeous Lake Tahoe holiday home, she quickly discovers that reminiscing will not be the only pastime on the menu. Though she is desperate to reconnect with her gay son, who’s brought along his boyfriend of three weeks and who feels out of place. He’s also invited his filmmaker friend and her boyfriend, in the hopes of scoring a screenwriting deal.
Tensions run high, the family too preoccupied with their own busy lives to pay attention to Clarkson’s motherly demands for nostalgia and her penchant for perfectionism. When an accident fractures their placid vacation, the familial friction is brought to the fore, and members are forced to confront everything from fear of aging to fear of being left alone. Sumptuously filmed with the naturally gorgeous backdrop of the scenic lake in autumn, it’s a weekend away that’ll have you cringing and sympathizing in equal measure.
