# hockney, weekend and a party worth remembering

- Link: https://tacobout.online/2026/11/01/the-panda-after-dark-1/
- Published: 2026-11-01T19:00:00-06:00
- Author: schwegler

## David Hockney: a splash without a swimmer

Start with David Hockney’s _A Bigger Splash_. His foundation’s 1967 chronology places
the painting alongside his continuing experiments with water, light and reflection.
The absent swimmer is a useful prompt: desire can be suggested by a trace rather
than a body placed in the middle of the frame. A pool, a disturbance, somebody just
out of sight. Not every invitation needs to introduce itself.

![David Hockney’s A Bigger Splash: a white splash breaks a blue swimming pool beside
a diving board and a modern house.](https://i0.wp.com/tacobout.online/wp-content/
uploads/2026/10/panda-after-dark-1-2.jpg?resize=738%2C729&ssl=1)

[Explore Hockney’s 1967 work](https://www.thedavidhockneyfoundation.org/chronology/1967).

## Weekend

A one-night stand is often an ending, a joke or a complication. Andrew Haigh’s _Weekend_
uses it as the beginning of a conversation.

The 2011 film follows Russell and Glen, played by Tom Cullen and Chris New, through
a brief encounter that extends across a weekend. Its scale is small enough to make
the question of what comes next feel very large.

That is the reason to put it on an after-dark list. Not because a hookup needs romance
to become respectable, but because physical intimacy and emotional disclosure do
not necessarily arrive in the same order. A stranger can know one part of you before
he knows anything else.

The useful thing to notice is what the premise refuses to rush past: the time after
attraction has done its opening work. What can two people ask each other? Which 
version of themselves do they offer? How much can be said before the available time
runs out?

Criterion’s edition includes a conversation with Haigh specifically about the sex
scenes, giving the curious viewer somewhere to take that discussion beyond the film.
No grand claim about the definitive gay experience is necessary. Two men and a short
stretch of time are plenty.

![Criterion’s Weekend cover shows two men resting together in bed beneath the film’s
title.](https://i0.wp.com/tacobout.online/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/panda-after-
dark-1-3.jpg?resize=805%2C1000&ssl=1)

[Explore _Weekend_ at Criterion](https://www.criterion.com/films/27783-weekend).
Adult themes; this is an evergreen film pick, not a claim of free streaming access.

 [From my media collectionWeekend (2011)Director: Andrew Haigh • Genre: Drama, Romance • Year: 2011Andrew Haigh’s film on Trove.View on Trove ](https://trove.schweg.xyz/movies/255-weekend-2011)

## Pet Shop Boys: Being Boring

Finish with _Being Boring_. The band’s own site points to the corrected HD version
of its official video, replacing an American edit that had been uploaded by mistake.
That is a good reason to follow the artist’s link rather than whichever reupload
turns up first. Pair it with _Weekend_ as an invitation to think about time spent
with other people, not a demand to produce a life lesson before the music ends.

[Watch through the official Pet Shop Boys page](https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/pet-texts/2023-06-03/being-boring).

 [From my media collectionPet Shop Boys — Behaviour (1990)Artist: Pet Shop Boys • Year: 1990The original album featuring Being Boring.View on Trove ](https://trove.schweg.xyz/albums/34-behaviour-1990)

Image credits: David Hockney, _A Bigger Splash_, 1967, Tate, via [The David Hockney Foundation](https://www.thedavidhockneyfoundation.org/artwork/3667);
© David Hockney. _Weekend_ still and edition cover by Jason Hardy via [The Criterion Collection](https://www.criterion.com/films/27783-weekend).
Limited contextual images of the works discussed; no endorsement implied.