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[HanCinema's Film Review] "Weekends"

All I knew about gay men's choirs before watching "Weekends" was that they are like straight choirs, except populated entirely by gay men. And after watching "Weekends"...my opinion is unchanged. G_Voice is indeed a normal choir composed entirely of gay men. If you want to know how the only gay men's choir in Korea operates, "Weekends" is unlikely to surprise you. Which may be a good thing, since I imagine director Lee Dong-ha-III's principle goal here was to make gay people look normal.

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But all right, let's look at "Weekends" from the most basic level. Why does anyone join any choir? Because they like singing, obviously. More than that, though, they're looking for a sense of community. The typical aspiring choir-person wants to spend their "Weekends" hanging out with other like-minded people and just fitting in. The nature of G_Voice, with a focus on the massive gay voice instead of soloists, works to build solidarity and empathy within the group.

You can see how this would appeal to gay men living in Korea, I'm sure. And it's clear from the numerous interviews with choir members that they see their involvement with G_Voice as a net positive, not necessarily in the social justice sense, but rather in that they have people to talk to. Also to date. Yes, gay dating is also a frequent discussion point, and much like the singing itself, it's not really that much different from straight dating except that the participants happen to be gay.

The music? Well it's...it's not bad, although G_Voice is clearly more talented in the recorded context than the live one. All the same, they regularly perform at various gay events because who else would perform at a big gay Korean wedding? Mind, any sort of public appearance is fraught with its own risks, and much of the latter part of "Weekends" is just filled with public footage of activist conservatives being petty and mean for reasons which they do not make clear.

"Weekends" does not go as far as "Troublers" does in expositing the opposition to LGBT issues in Korea, which does make sense given how the gay choir angle is at centerpoint. It nonetheless is a useful exercise in intersectionality. A gay man who just keeps to himself and goes to clubs may be spared from political outrages. No one in G_Voice has that luxury, because they end up seeing how conservative forces align not just against LGBT persons, but any perceived threat to conservative hegemony.

I already knew all of this stuff, so I didn't learn all that much personally. But "Weekends" is not a documentary for semi-intelligent onlookers like me. The intended audience is, on one ends, members of G_Voice and their friends who want to see their lives in the film format, and various ignorant persons worldwide who are ignorant when it comes to queer Korean culture. You probably don't fall in the first category, but if you're in the second, you'll learn a fair amount from "Weekends".

Review by William Schwartz

"Weekends" is directed by Lee Dong-ha-III

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