Form often follows function in independent movies, which may account for why Tom Dolby and Tom Williams' Last Weekend feels like it was reverse-engineered from the beautiful house on the shores of Lake Tahoe which serves as the primary filming location. A setting like that really only lends itself to either a slasher film or a drama about an upper-middle-class family that's fraying at the edges, and it's far too nice a house to sully the walls with blood. Family matriarch Celia (Patricia Clarkson) frets as her adult children and their assorted lovers and entourages arrive for what may be their final Labor Day weekend at the house, as Celia is considering making major changes to her life. She's not the only one who has a secret to keep, and indeed, much of the conflict comes from people not being able to bring themselves to tell each other what's going on in their heads. Unfortunately, Last Weekend never quite rises above the sense of being about Rich Peoples' Problems; for as much as it was critically reviled for its often pulpy melodrama, Pieter Gaspersz's thematically similar After had higher stakes because it was about a middle-class family that still felt like it had more to lose. But then again, Last Weekend's house sure is a beaut.
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