In The Summers Review – Entertaining, Strong Performances, Exceptional
- Details
- Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film
- Published on Wednesday, 05 February 2025 12:31
- Written by Janet Walker
In The Summers, from Music Box Films and Hulu, brings to the screen a coming-of-age drama, tracing the lives and changes of two sisters who live in California and spend each summer with their dad in Mexico.
The film opens with two young pre-teen girls, Violette, played by Dreya Renae Castillo, and Eva, played by Luciana Elisa Quinonez, who are arriving to visit their dad, Vincente, played by Puerto Rican rapper, Residente.
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During this first summer, life is easy, and the girls are easily entertained, the pool is sparkling, and life is simple. Through each subsequent summer, we understand the stories parents tell their children to satisfy questions, progressively fail to satisfy their minds. Soon, too soon, most parents would say, the young girls are older, and while Eva, who matured gracefully, Violette began to realize things about herself, and her transition into adulthood, was challenged by her weight gain, and decision to live her truth. During this time, we see the house and pool both falling into disrepair.
In each of the summer vignettes, we see the external elements, the poor economy, no work, new relationships, the ups and downs of romance, parenthood, and finally in the last summer visit, the time has arrived when the adult daughters, Violette, played by Lio Mehiel, and Eva, played by Sasha Calle, are more independent and their father more dependent.
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As they are only with their father for three months each year, they expect him to remain constant, and each summer he fades, pummeled by external circumstances, he is solely pulled into anti-social behaviors that he cannot hide during the summer visits. He introduces Violette to weed, and he continues to drink.
One summer, Violette decides seeing him would be too painful. And Eva returns to Mexico alone, and we see, she is alone. Her father is a no-show at the bus station, she is left skateboarding to the house. Without her sister, her companion, life is frightening.
In The Summers, while set in Mexico, and tells the story of Latina families, a change in the scenery and this could be any divorced family, anywhere. The story was well told, and the talent, as a series of actors were used to play the growing girls, able to embody and maintain the continuity of the mannerisms, attitudes, and the nuances of the characters.
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The director's choice of using the pool, to represent the decay of the family relationship, was brilliant. Seeing the initial summer visit with a crystal-clear pool, and subsequent summers of decline, until the water, no longer even dirty, was gone, and all that remained was just an empty, lifeless pool.
In The Summers, has been picked up by Hulu, and has received two Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations, for Best First feature, and Best Breakthrough Performance, by Residente.
An enlightening family drama, In The Summers, is exceptionally presented and a well-told and engaging story. See it.
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Country: Mexico.
Language: English, Spanish
Runtime: 95 minutes.
Director: Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio.
Producer: Janek Ambros, Lynette Coll, Cynthia Fernandez De La Cruz, Alexander Dinelaris, Cristobal Guell, Rob Quadrino, Jan Suter, Nando Vila, Slava Vladimirov, Stephanie Yankwitt.
Executive Producer: Greg Borovykh, Justin Brown, Jules Buenabenta, Vladimir Ceryavskis, Francis Chapman, Tom Culliver, Rrick Douat, Bradley Feig, Jose Antonio Lamas, Isaac Lee, Alexandra Mishaan, Henry R, Munoz, III, Arturo Sampson, Brooke Saperstein, Richard Saperstein, Kyle troud, Darren Strowger, Darren Tantalean.
Writer: Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio.
Cast: Sasha Calle, Lio Mehiel, Dreya Castillo, Luciana Elisa Quininez, Kimaya Thais, Allison Salinas, Residente, Emma Ramos, Leslie Grace, Sharlene Cruz, Gabriella Surodjawan, Indigo Montez, Nasir Villanueva, Guillermo A Portillo III, Natay Carroll, Erin Wendorf, Diana, Gaitirira, Drake Malone, Adam Dicterow.
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is completing the non-fiction narrative, "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," which is expected to be released in early 2025. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a former member of the International Federation of Journalists.
