There is a quiet ache that runs through Winter Sprung Summer or Fall, a film that moves not with urgency but with the slow pulse of memory. Directed by Tiffany Paulsen and led by Jenna Ortega’s restrained, luminous performance as Remi Aguilar, the film traces the fragile arc of a relationship born in transit and tested by time. It begins in winter, with a chance encounter between Remi and Barnes Hawthorne (Percy Hynes White), and ends in fall, with a kiss that feels earned not by romance alone, but by the labor of growing up.
As a coming-of-age story, the film succeeds in capturing the dissonance between expectation and desire. Poised and ambitious, Remi carries the weight of her parents’ legacy while yearning for something uncharted. Barnes, adrift and tender, offers her a detour—a summer of music, weed, and sea turtles. Their connection is not built on grand gestures but on shared silences, on how a Talking Heads song can become a promise. Paulsen’s direction allows these moments to breathe, though the pacing sometimes falters, lingering too long on scenes that do not deepen the emotional terrain.
Jenna Ortega brings a quiet ferocity to Remi, balancing vulnerability with resolve. Her scenes with Marisol Nichols and Adam Rodriguez, playing her parents, crackle with tension, especially when Remi asserts her independence. Percy Hynes White, as Barnes, is less consistent—his charm flickers, but his emotional depth sometimes feels undercut by the script’s hesitations. Still, their chemistry is believable, especially in the prom sequence and the lake house confrontation, where the stakes of their choices begin to sharpen.
The plot, while episodic, holds together through the seasons. Each act—winter’s spark, spring’s dance, summer’s unraveling, fall’s reckoning—offers a distinct emotional register. The film’s structure mirrors the rhythms of young love, where beginnings and endings blur. Yet some transitions feel abrupt, particularly the shift from Remi’s grounded rebellion to her sudden recklessness. The jeep crash, while dramatic, strains credibility and threatens to derail the film’s emotional logic.
Themes of autonomy, expectation, and the elasticity of love are woven throughout, though not always with clarity. The film gestures toward generational tension, cultural identity, and the ethics of ambition, but these threads are left loose. Barnes’ Japanese fluency and Remi’s Costa Rica plans hint at deeper stories, yet the film resists exploring them. This restraint is both a strength and a flaw—it preserves the intimacy of the central relationship but leaves the world around them underdeveloped.
Paulsen’s direction is most effective in the quieter scenes: the train ride, the sushi dinner, the rooftop confessions. She trusts her actors to carry the emotional weight, and often they do. The concert finale, with Barnes’ band serenading Remi, risks sentimentality but lands with sincerity. It is not the grand gesture that matters, but the recognition that love, even when deferred, can still be honored.
The supporting cast adds texture without distraction. Elias Kacavas as P.J. brings levity, while Bridget Oberlin as Barnes’ mother offers a glimpse into his past. The ensemble at Harvard, though lightly sketched, helps Remi find her footing. These characters orbit the central pair, reflecting the ways young people shape each other’s paths without always knowing it.
Winter Sprung Summer or Fall is not a perfect film. It stumbles in its ambition, occasionally losing sight of its emotional compass. But it is a film that listens to its characters, the seasons, and the quiet truths that emerge when plans fall apart. It does not insist on resolution, but offers grace in its place.
As a romance, it is tender and tentative. As a coming-of-age story, it is honest in its portrayal of uncertainty. And as a film, it works best when it trusts its stillness. Jenna Ortega anchors it with poise, and Tiffany Paulsen carefully guides it. The result is a story that lingers—not because it dazzles, but because it remembers.
Grade: B+. Streaming on Paramount Plus.
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