‘Lady Bird’ Isn’t Greta Gerwig’s Directorial Debut — This Awkward Movie Is

Greta Gerwig and Joe Swanberg‘s Nights and Weekends opens with a clumsy sex scene that sheds the clichés of the many that have come before it in favor of capturing every last detail of the process. The camera seems at first uncomfortably voyeuristic before you realize, how many scenes of this kind are this compromising? How many times in a sex scene have you watched two people fumbling out of their winter clothes, layer by layer, taking off their socks one at a time, and trying to figure out a position that works? Despite the graphic nudity and long takes, it’s not sexy, but it’s honest.

Nights and Weekends lets the audience know from the get-go that the movie isn’t about love in any greater sense, or even about long-distance relationships, but about the connection between these two individuals and no one else. There is no soft lighting, no music to enhance the eroticism, and the camera remains mostly static for the duration of the couple’s amorous antics. In more ways than one, this scene not only sets the tone for the rest of the film but serves as a litmus test for whether the viewer will find the film as a whole superfluous or a deeply tender portrait of a young and goodhearted though ultimately doomed relationship.

Nights and Weekends

A man and woman must face the tension that builds between them during a long-distance relationship.

Actors

Greta Gerwig, Joe Swanberg

Director

Joe Swanberg, Greta Gerwig

Run Time

80 mins

Release Date

October 10, 2008

Studio

IFC Films

What Is ‘Nights and Weekends’ About?

Nights and Weekends follows two twenty-somethings, Mattie (Gerwig) and James (Swanberg) as they navigate the pitfalls of a failing long-distance relationship. We are given little information about the two and their lives outside the relationship. What would otherwise be considered ancillary information is of no concern to the filmmakers as they seem to be more interested in what is and not what should be or what was. Upon first viewing it makes the film seem somewhat incomplete, but upon further viewing, it allows for open interpretation regarding their family lives, careers, and educational backgrounds. It gives the characters a nice clean slate without any baggage to bring the film or the characters down.

It has all the makings of a Mumblecore film and is often categorized as such, but there isn’t a single shot in the film that is lacking intention in its editing, construction, or lighting. It’s a lot less flat than many in the genre, providing some genuinely beautiful night shots of Chicago at its most frigid. Watching the drama of everyday life unfold in such a stark and unpretentious manner draws the viewer in a way that the latest effects-laden Fast & Furious film just isn’t capable of doing, despite how many times we’re reminded what those movies are really about. Nights and Weekends captures the tension and delicacy of relationships the way that few films of any genre do, taking conversations that are on the surface about nothing and turning them into a 4-dimensional chess game of insecurities, past wrongs, longing, and miscommunication. Few things are more fascinating than watching the complex web that is interpersonal communication unravel, and Nights and Weekends does so with both elegance and efficiency, knowing when and why to cut and where to linger.

‘Nights and Weekends’ Shows Off Greta Gerwig’s Unique Voice

While Swanberg’s performance is undeniably vulnerable, Gerwig really steals the show. Of the two she is the more naturalistic and convincing. There are multiple moments of seemingly pure abandon when she seems to forget that there’s a camera. The moments that the film captures are rarely portrayed onscreen, especially when it comes to the pressure that comes with a long-distance relationship. One such scene occurs in the first half of the film (which is also the better half) in which Mattie, disappointed that James is acting too serious, hilariously declares, “I don’t respond to sarcastic fun!”. While on the surface it seems like just a quirky moment, it’s immediately followed by a distraught Mattie, crying in the rain, as James frustratingly scolds “I’m sick of you always crying when things aren’t perfect”. For anyone who’s been in a long-distance relationship, moments like these are deeply truthful, revealing how easy and common it is for two people in love to have their rhythms out of sync.

It also shows that as an actor, Greta Gerwig was willing to be emotionally compromising in her performances, risking that she may not come off as likable to everyone watching. She’s not the typical “cool” quirky girl, she’s always been more upfront in her performances about her experience than the typical cliche hipster girl. Even when she’s not acting she has always risked her onscreen double being deeply unlikable in the pursuit of truth. In Lady Bird, Saoirse Ronan, who essentially plays a character inspired by Gerwig as a teenager, is pretentious and deeply selfish at times, but you can’t help but like her in spite of herself because most of us were pretentious and selfish in high school (or at least we knew someone who was). Gerwig has a way of evoking empathy from the least pleasant aspects of her characters’ personalities. Her characters are often simultaneously sincere and ironic. She wears hotel robes as a joke but is also trying to seduce her ex by doing so.

Related

Narnia and Netflix Need Greta Gerwig, Not the Other Way Around

It’s a shame when young talents get snapped up by the IP machine — but Gerwig’s built different.

Even though both central characters are arguably the protagonists, the movie seems much more interested in Mattie’s development and inner turmoil. There are multiple scenes where she is just on the brink of falling apart, the camera is always there to capture when she does. When she finally realizes that the relationship has run its course, there is a wave of peace that washes over in the final minutes, and James’ emotionally stunted character handles the couple’s final interaction less gracefully. The way in which she comforts James before exiting his life for the foreseeable future mirrors his cold and childish handling of her moments of emotional vulnerability in a lovely and subtle epilogue to their whole relationship. Nights and Weekends is proof that from the beginning Greta Gerwig had a deep understanding of human behavior and an even deeper love for people at their most raw, honest, and unlovable.

Nights and Weekends is currently available to buy or rent on Apple TV+ in the U.S.

WATCH ON APPLE TV+