The Weekend Away (2022/ Mystery Thriller/ Netflix)
A girl, while on a weekend getaway with her bestie, gets embroiled in deep mess when her friend goes missing.
Writer – Sarah Anderson
Based on – Book by the same name and writer
Director- Kim Farrant
Cast- Leigton Meester, Christina Wolfe, Ziad Bakri, Luke Norris, Amar Bukvic
Beth flies to Croatia for a weekend with her bestie Kate ,leaving her infant in the care of her husband.
Kate is filthy rich, wild, adventurous and loves living off her almost ex-husband.
Beth is a new mother, with post-partum issues and shares that all is not well with her marriage.
On the very first evening which was particularly high on adventure, Kate vanishes, leaving Beth struggling to find her where-abouts and peiecing together an evening that Beth herself doesn’t remember.
When I saw the trailer on the Netflix, besides the fact that it was a short mystery thriller, what drew me to it was its setting in Croatia. I thought it would be lovely to refresh the memories of my last trip. Strange reason, but worked well for me. The beautiful locations captured were like a revisit and the twists, turns and suspense was a bonus.
The story starts and without a delay the mystery kicks off. So it wastes no time in drawing you in.
There are twists and turns like a Spanish thriller and the suspense manages to keep you hanging till the climax. The Sherlock in you would of course throw guesses but the narrative shrewdly takes your attention elsewhere.
Read in some reviews that the ,mystery wasn’t tight enough. Honestly I wasn’t in the nitpicking mode and I didn’t delve deep enough to find one.
Leighton brings to Beth an innocence and vulnerability that makes your heart go out for her.
Christina is good as the sharp and sassy Kate.
The film is short and crisp, the pace remains relentless, performances are decent, locations are beautiful, the mystery keeps you hooked and the climax did surprise me, not because I hadn’t thought of it earlier but because the narrative was smart enough to deflect me.
The film is a good one time watch for mystery thriller lovers.