Movie info via Sundance:
On a journey that spans the formative years of their lives, two sisters navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
With grounded thoughtfulness, debut feature director Alessandra Lacorazza weaves a rich tapestry of memories in New Mexico as childhood and adolescence collide with the realities of adulthood. René Pérez Joglar (also known by his musical moniker Residente) gives a layered and gut-wrenching performance as the charming-yet-troubled Vicente, struggling to fully connect with his daughters through games that slowly lose their luster in the shadow of his habits. A talented cast, including Sasha Calle and Lío Mehiel (Sundance Special Jury Prize for Performance as the lead of last year’s Mutt), inhabit Violeta and Eva through cinematic ellipses as their understanding of their father deepens. In The Summers proves both an emotional capsule of growing up within a fragmented family and a love letter to the resilience needed to survive.—AS
Review:
In the Summers, Alessandra Lacorazza’s debut film, shows how parental-child love and relationships can become a battlefield. The validity of experience will be tested with accusations of wrongdoing, memories will be negotiated. In the Summers is an honest four part elegy to the experience of a father-Vicente (Residente) and his two daughters, the straight Violeta and the butch lesbian-Eva. The daughters are played with a startling naturalism and continuity by different actresses as they mature.
The film bookends the stilted awkwardness of Summer encounters with their father. The first full of the distance of geography, youth, experience but not without the possibility of being loved; the second brimming with maturity, estrangement and years of pain and failed reconnections. The simple forgiveness of youth has vanished in times grudges and resentments. The past becomes evidence for a future conviction.
Lacorazza takes her time to develop the details. The story unfolds slowly and languidly like a hot summer day. The aging child cast is attuned to all the subtleties. It’s probably the best child performances I’ve seen in at least twenty years. They nail the nervous exchanges, slight moments of body recoils that clue the audience to the hidden emotional dangers lurking beneath.
Vincente is a smart but addicted man with a temper that can get the best of him and a zest for thrills that can place the girls in dangerous situations. As he is, Vincente will always struggle to be a good father. His saving grace that gains him audience sympathy- he wants to be better. The relics of these engagements become the ritual altars seen in the inter-titles that introduce each new section.
The differences between Violeta and Eva become more apparent each summer. There’s a charm to seeing the shot of the siblings waiting at the airport replicated every couple of years. Unlike Eva, Violeta doesn’t crave Vincente’s attention. She doesn’t even expect it.
By the time Vincente reforms himself in the end the kids have lost the ability to connect with him. There will be meetings but only out of obligation and with firm boundaries. There will be no firm resolutions between them. Vincente knows that his old children are lost to him. His legacy will be with the new children and new mother.
In the Summers gets a 3.5/5 or a B+.
It’s streaming as part of Sundance 2024 . The virtual part of the festival runs from January 25-28.
Credits:
- DIRECTOR(S)ALESSANDRA LACORAZZA
- SCREENWRITERALESSANDRA LACORAZZA
- PRODUCERSALEXANDER DINELARISROB QUADRINOFERNANDO RODRIGUEZ-VILALYNETTE COLLSERGIO ALBERTO LIRACRISTÓBAL GÜELLJAN SUTERDANIEL TANTALEANCYNTHIA FERNANDEZ DE LA CRUZJANEK AMBROSSTEPHANIE YANKWITT
- EXECUTIVE PRODUCERSISAAC LEEHENRY R. MUÑOZ IIIRICHARD SAPERSTEINBROOKE SAPERSTEINERICK DOUAT
- CO-PRODUCERSJAVIER GONZALESJENNIFER WINTERBOTHAM
- CINEMATOGRAPHERALEJANDRO MEJÍA
- COSTUME DESIGNERFERNANDO ‘FERN’ RODRIGUEZ
- PRODUCTION DESIGNERESTEFANIA LARRAIN
- EDITORADAM DICTEROW
- COMPOSEREDUARDO CABRA
- CASTING DIRECTORSTEPHANIE YANKWITT
- PRINCIPAL CASTRENÉ PÉREZ JOGLARSASHA CALLELÍO MEHIELLESLIE GRACEEMMA RAMOSSHARLENE CRUZ
- YEAR2023
- CATEGORYFEATURE
- COUNTRYUNITED STATES
- LANGUAGEENGLISH, SPANISH
- RUN TIME95 MIN
- COMPANYFALCO INK
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