Rate: 4.5 / 5
Runtime: 89 minutes
**Spoilers Ahead**
A dead body floating peacefully in the teal-blue water. That’s how the film “The Weekend Away” begins. However, it is not the day-old corpse that catches your attention, but rather the beautiful backdrop of Croatia — the reddish rooftops contrasting with the white stucco houses, the bright blue sky and the shimmering water that transports you to Europe from the comfort of your couch. There isn’t a better combination than a good old-fashioned murder mystery set in a stunning city abroad.
Kate invites Beth to Croatia for a weekend to loosen up and reconnect after months apart. However, after a night of partying and getting drunk (and drugged), Kate goes missing, leaving Beth to haphazardly retrace their steps to find her friend. Beth gets help from her husband, Rob, the police officers at the local station, the Airbnb owner Sebastian and most importantly, the taxi driver Zain. The number of twists and turns in this plot makes your head spin, but in a good way. Just when you think they have caught the killer, something exonerates them and the search continues. The list of suspects is pretty obvious, with Zain and Sebastian on that list, but Rob’s involvement came as a surprise. Who would have thought that the father of an adorable child, Aster, and a kind responsible husband, was capable of murdering his lover and wife’s best friend Kate without remorse? Even until the last moment, Rob lied about his conversation with Kate, hoping he could still redeem himself in his wife’s eyes and justify his actions. Nonetheless, it was clever to bring the film full circle by using the black onyx necklace as the key to solving the murder.
The film has us suspecting everyone, even Beth herself since she only remembers fragments of what happened that night and partially remembers an argument of sorts between them. No one can be trusted and the suspense keeps the plot alive until the very end.
There are some points in the plot that make you want to scream at the characters through the TV — especially when it comes to Beth. She agrees to live in the creepy Airbnb owner’s basement apartment alone and snoops around the apartment when she realizes the owner bugged her room. When you know someone is watching you, I think the best move is to run as fast as you can, not stay behind for a potentially fatal confrontation. These scenes are what moved the plot forward though, and they were honestly not much of a setback to the film, but more of a weakness in character development and their sense of judgment.
If you are looking for something exciting to watch this weekend, give this film a chance. Released on March 3, this film ranks No. 7 in movies as of today and is available on Netflix to stream.
