One Weekend a Month (2004) User Reviews

Awesome!

[chakram_sais · 8/10 · 6 August 2005]

I had the chance to watch this movie at the Sundance Film Festival website, and was a magic moment. Watching Renée, one of my favourite actresses, playing such a difficult role, and the way she did it, was amazing. She was the only one on screen almost all the time.

We could see Meg, a desperate single mother who's going to travel to Iraq she's a soldier woman) and don't know what to do with her children. She spends the whole day at phone calling people, but she is not able to solve her problem.

Renée O'Connor didn't always know what the actor at the phone was going to say, but she solved the situation as the professional and experienced actress she is. It's difficult for an actress that played an important role in a successful TV show ("Xena: Warrior Princess") to change her fans' mind. She carried it out: it wasn't Gabrielle the woman in the screen, it was Meg.

I read there might be a sequel that would tell what happens to Meg after she comes back from Iraq, I hope it is filmed! I gave this movie 10 out of 10, I can't give it less than an excellent mark.

A Fine Short!

[Sylviastel · 7/10 · 26 December 2013]

Eric Escobar has written and directed this twelve minute short film on a single mother who volunteers one weekend a month for the United States National Guard. When she is called for active duty in Iraq, she worries about her kids. The short film is about making plans for her children. The actress does a very good job in her performance in conveying the realities. First, she learns about her deployment and tries to get out of it. Her mother doesn't seem to care about her grandchildren. There is an underlying notion about why in alluding to her phone call. The director and writer has done an admirable job in accomplishing so much in this short film.

Excellent acting in a very thought provoking film

[shootingstar_chel · 8/10 · 21 February 2006]

I would definitely recommend this film. I don't watch many short films but i was blown away by this one. Renees acting was brilliant, being the first time id seen her in anything besides Xena i worried that it wouldn't live up to my expectations. But it did. This story is very relevant to today, and forces the audience to think how many mothers out there have been faced with the same heartbreaking predicament.I heard somewhere that a lot of the dialogue was improvised, which i think is fantastic, and just proves how talented Renee is. Why mainstream filmmakers aren't falling over themselves to cast Renee i have no idea. This girl has got bags of talent. A great film, well done to all involved. Show us a sequel!

One Weekend A Month.

[silentana · 6 March 2005]

I, too, saw this short film by Mr. Escobar. Albeit, I know nothing of filming or editing, I was immediately drawn to his choice of filming the scene in basically the same area, the kitchen. The raw emotions portrayed by Renee O'Connor are nothing short of amazing. One not only sensed her character's desperation but felt it as well. As a Latina, I am always more than pleased to see films done by other fellow Latinos. Kudos to you Mr. Escobar for your short, intense and real look in a day of a single Mom. As for Ms. O'Connor, why she isn't seen in more more "mainstream" roles is beyond me. I applaud her for courage in tackling the role of Meg. I certainly look forward to more of Mr. Escobar's films and Ms. O'Connor's acting.

Excellent film with great acting

[wizardbard · 10/10 · 17 November 2004]

I saw the film at the Latino Film Festival in San Francisco and was totally blown away by the power and realism of the film itself and by the portrayal of the main character by Ms. O'Connor. The film deals with what happens to a single mother of one when she is told that she is being called up by the Army reserve to go to Iraq for a year. The raw emotions displayed in the film is exactly what I would expect to happen under these circumstances. I would recommend this film to anyone who has never experienced what the lady in the film is going through regards being sent off to war without much notice. An extremely traumatic experience. I hope this leads to more exposure for Mr. Escobar and Ms. O'Connor as they are both first rate.

One Weekend A Month is a timely and well done short film

[klburch28 · 10/10 · 28 April 2005]

I've had the good fortune to see this short film on the Sundance Film Festival Online. I thought it was very well acted. Renée O' Connor did a superb job of bringing Meg and the plight of many mothers who are also service members to life. Part of what struck me about the short was the fact that Meg gets no help when she needs it most. I hope that Renée and director Eric Escobar gets a chance to bring Meg's story to life in a full length feature. I would like to see how the issue presented in the short gets resolved. I would also like to see the aftermath of when Meg returns from Iraq. I think this is a story that needs to be told and an extremely timely one.

Could this really happen?

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 17 September 2013]

This short film by Eric Escobar stars Renée O'Connor (from Xena) as a soldier and single mom to two small children and depicts her struggles after she gets informed that she is about to be deployed to Baghdad. After the initial call where gets said information, pretty much the whole short film consists of her making calls to arrange for everything, especially what is gonna happen to her children. Unfortunately, the lead actress' performance was not good enough to really get me involved, even when she breaks down towards the end while talking to her mother. Also the directing didn't really impress me. It seems like the director went more for quantity instead of quality. we see split screens, black screens and pretty much from everything a bit, but no real structure.

This may be the reason why Escobar hasn't directed anything in almost ten years. The only real thing I take from this short film is the question if it's really possible to simply deploy single army mothers even if they're integrated in society and have nobody else to turn to for their children.

Brilliant

[nicfirth20 · 10/10 · 27 April 2009]

Having been a Xena fan and having seen Renee's absolutely brilliant way of pouring pure emotion into her scenes, I knew that this would be a fantastic performance by her and I was not disappointed. The gripping sense of despair that you can feel from all different areas that were brought to light by one phone call were amazing to watch. The fear of being deployed, the terror of leaving her children and the dread of having to consider (even for second) leaving her children with her step dad all in 10 minutes of film was brilliant. In my mind, Renee O'Connor is the most under rated actress in movies and TV today.

What also struck me was the multiple screens that were used as Meg was calling people on the phone, which was a perfect parallel to give a sense of the split focus that Meg must have been going through and the freeze frames which I believe parallel that exact moment that your mind would have shut down as the emotion and pressure got to you.

I think that this film is amazing in all aspects, from writing to the acting, from filming to post production. High recommended.