Every Other Weekend
2024 · 11m · Canada
Directed by Mick Robertson, Margaret Rose
Genres: coming-of-age, drama
Tones: contemplative, tender, tense
Holly, a young single mother, gets ready for a first date on the weekend her ex is meant to take custody of their baby, only to find herself held back between her own need for freedom and the pull of parental responsibility.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Everyone expects the indie drama about motherhood guilt—Robertson and Rose just... commit to the apartment instead, letting fluorescent light and a real baby do the subversive work of dismantling the fantasy-date-night narrative before it starts.
The rehearsal-deep approach to naturalism here sits in lineage with kitchen-sink realism and Dardenne-school constraint, where formal rigor emerges not from polish but from sustained, considered observation of a single interior space.
The decision to shoot in the actual apartment and let an unpredictable infant become a scene partner rather than a plot device—that's the move that transforms what could be a familiar scenario into something tactile and irreplaceable.
Reviews
A short but powerful look at the pressures many parents — especially single mothers — face every day, standing out for its raw intimacy and striking authenticity.
Festivals
- Toronto International Film Festival 2024
- Whistler Film Festival 2024
- New/Next Film Festival 2024