Griffin in Summer
After acting both leads in an excerpt of his drama 'Regrets of Autumn' at the Borwood Student Talent show, a performance that leaves his audience unsure of how to respond with its martial accusations of alcoholism and revelations of abortions, its precocious fourteen year-old playwright is distraught to learn that the cast and crew of his previous school vacation basement productions are not as accessible because of newfound interests. He'll be renewed when Brad (Owen Teague, "It," "The Friend"), the handyman his mom hires, tells him he was a performance artist in New York City and becomes the obsession of "Griffin in Summer."
Laura's Review: B+
Writer/director Nicholas Colia making his feature directorial debut drawing on his own childish artistic endeavors, siphons in two outside influences for his young protagonist to draw upon - his own home life and the newcomer meant to fill his father's absence. The results are frequently hilarious, but also moving and insightful, young Everett Blunck ("The Old Way") shouldering the film with his uncanny mixture of perception and insensitivity.
While Griffin is obviously well cared for in a nice suburban home where he is well fed and dressed, his mother Helen (Melanie Lynskey, TV's 'Yellowjackets'), almost always seen with a glass of wine nearby, appears preoccupied, and while she tries to get him to actually go outside during his summer vacation, she cannot tear him away from his computer where he continually works on his screenplay. Griffin's best friend Kara (Abby Ryder Fortson, "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret") also tries to get Griffin to ease up a bit, telling him that their friends are unlikely to respond well to his 8 a.m. rehearsal demands. Griffin relents, pushing the time out to 10 a.m., but Kara has to remind him that she, Winnie (Johanna Colón), Tyler (Gordon Rocks) and Pam (Alivia Bellamy) have other things going on this summer than spending sixty hours a week on his play. To top everything off, the playwright is unhappy with everything he sees.
That includes Brad, the tattooed, heavy drinking, rock blaring twentysomething who shows up to work around their pool, Griffin indignant that music and power tools distract him from his writing. But Griffin, finding himself alone more and more, his mom increasingly focused on his father's unending business trip, sees Brad in a new light when he's shirtless by the pool and, stammering, invites him in for a drink, the offer escalating from the mundane to dad's whiskey. Suddenly Brad sees Griffin in a new light, too, a young man who can indulge his habits. But the new relationship wrecks havoc on Griffin's friendships, with Brad's girlfriend Chloe (Kathryn Newton, "Lisa Frankenstein"), on both their home lives and even on that very thing that means more than anything to Griffin - his play.
Colia counterweights Griffin in Brad, the older man having fled New York City after a disastrous show. He's clearly bowled over by Griffin's screenplay, but while Griffin struggles to see the artistry in Brad's performance art video, he convinces himself there's something there. He replaces Tyler with Brad, but the guy's raging performance terrifies his costars even as it delights Griffin. But Griffin, who's created a fake adult female persona in order to secure a real theater for his production, goes too far when he uses for more personal reasons.
Colia's screenplay intricately weaves the impact of outside events on various relationships to propel this unique coming-of-age comedy, 'Regrets of Autumn' a comedic mini-masterpiece of adult drama seen through the eyes of a child. He's also gotten great performances from his young cast, Blunck's intellectual intelligence covering for his emotional immaturity. Ryder Fortson fills in that latter gap as the mediator among the young teens, a supportive friend who works around Griffin's egocentricity. Colón, Rocks and Bellamy all contend with having to give amateur performances, only to rebound for the film's climax in the movie's only trope - the overly professional children's show. Teague (someone please cast this guy as The Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten) creates a character as dim-witted and aimless as Griffin is intelligent and focused yet maintains sympathy with his lost and lonely aura. Lynskey maintains a difficult balance between Helen's personal devastation and her love for her oft-exasperating son. The film also features Michael Esper ("Pavements") as Griffin's dad Bill and Francine Berk as Brad's pleasantly clueless mom.
Colia bypasses some of the bumpier logistics of his story in favor of its emotional complexities and quirky humor. The production evokes sleepy, summertime suburbia, Virginia standing in for Massachusetts. A small gem, "Griffin in Summer" announces yet another debuting filmmaker to watch.
Robin's Review: B
Vertical released "Griffin in Summer" in select theaters on 8/29/25. It expands in subsequent weeks and will be available on VOD on 9/16/25.
