Have A Nice Weekend (1974)
Directed by Michael Walters
Mogul VHS
THE FILM
If an Ingmar Bergman impersonator made a slasher film in the mid-70s, he or she would have made Have A Nice Weekend. A family assembles at their island summer home, right on the cusp of winter. Dad is a Business Man. Mom yearns for her youth. Their daughter is back from college. Their son has just returned from Vietnam and he seems a little unstable. Awkward conversations ensue. Neighbors stop by. A gardener visits with the family and then does some gardening. In the midst of all this semi-bucolical hanging out, someone is killed.
And, the conversations get even more awkward and people start acting in very strange ways, in ways we haven't seen them act before. And, they try to accomplish something regarding protecting themselves and finding the killer (as they wait for the boat to come back for them). But, the more they try to do something, the more uncomfortable they become and the less that actually seems to happen. Someone else, in fact, dies. And, the whole tone and feel of the film seems to come from Another Place, a strange place. Smiles Of A Summer Night done as a strange, almost static murder mystery.
The film begins with pastoral 70s TV-style music. We see a football game being played between grade school kids. I got a little confused, especially when I saw there were three writers listed. Three Writers? Well, all this fervent writing must have added up to something because the through-line plot of the film makes wonderful sense, in the end. Getting there requires a bit of patience. But, the patience is worth it because it does work. (I was helped by the fact that the video master of the film had a glitch about 53 minutes in. It goes from night to day after a jump in the tape. I don't know how much is missing. The copy I have is approximately 75 minutes.) All of the strange conversations after the killings are done in a wonderful "everyone is a suspect" manner. People have flashbacks that insinuate everybody else. After a time, I felt like it didn't actually matter who the killer was. Luckily, the film is not that lazy.
There's really nothing superficially strange about the film. If you had it playing on a TV in the background, you might not catch The Weird. Focus on it and you'll see that it is a little odd. The storytelling is a bit off-center. The characters act so strangely. And, here's a weird one, the camera doesn't always seem to be pointed at the right spot. In one scene, the camera jerks in and out as the characters chat in the living room. It's not just one little jerk that you might miss. It happens a few times. The film looks like a professional number but little moments make me frown at it. But, it's a good speculative frown like Sherlock Holmes gets when he's on the trail of something.
If you were like me, you had no idea about this movie before you sat down to watch it. I won't ruin it. Sit down and watch it.
AUDIO AND VIDEO
I mentioned that strange jump in the master, already. The sound is fine. I don't know where I got this copy. It was slid under my door in a little white envelope.
EXTRAS
Just the mystery behind the whole thing. If you get a chance, watch this with my wife. She said some hilarious stuff.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Have A Nice Weekend is very watchable. Part of that is the fantastic setting. Lots of beautiful trees with multi-colored autumn leaves or wonderful leafless branches. A great island in the middle of nowhere. Great film to look at. It also has that pre-Halloween plotting that I get such a kick out of. So, you've got setting, character, plotting and randomness all smashing together amongst tons of strings keening across the lake. I enjoyed this movie. Come on over. We'll watch it with pumpkin ale of some sort.
— Dan Budnik, 10.13.11 |
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