In the Summers
Violette (Dreya Castillo, Kimaya Thais Limon and “Mutt’s” Lio Mehiel) and Eva (Luciana Elisa, Alison Salinas and Sasha Calle, “The Flash”) live with their mother in California but visit their brilliant, loving but volatile dad in New Mexico “In the Summers.”
Laura's Review: B+
Writer/director Alessandra Lacorazza feature debut, which won the Sundance 2024 U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and U.S. Dramatic Directing Award, is a complex, autobiographical exploration of how a separated dad, who obviously adores his two daughters, affects their lives over a span of almost twenty years. Latin rapper René “Residente” Pérez Joglar is phenomenal in his acting debut as the dad who can teach his kids about everything from how to shoot pool to how the number of stars in the sky are estimated (by using crushed pepper on a pizza as his example), but who also drinks too much and endangers them in reckless driving incidents which eventually culminate in a horrific crash which ironically proves the lengths he is willing to go for them.
The actor has the advantage of portraying his character throughout the four chapters Lacorazza divides her film into, the passage of time allowing us to see the cumulative effect of his behavior on daughters played by three different actresses in elementary and high school years as well as adulthood. But while the filmmaker develops their characters over the years, Mehiel and Calle bear so little resemblance to their earlier incarnations it is, initially at least, a distraction.
Chapter 1 immediately clues us in by introducing Vicente cleaning up way too many empty beer cans and overflowing ashtrays before picking up his daughters. Young Eva, who he gifts with boxing gloves, is thrilled to see dad. Violette, who we may presume is the filmmaker’s stand-in, is more standoffish, almost hostile, but gradually warms to the dad who gives her a book on stargazing and introduces them to both the nighttime sky. Carmen (Emma Ramos), who tends bar at dad’s pool hall, will be a stabilizing influence throughout, curtailing Vicente’s alcoholic intake and picking up the girls when she comes across them without their dad. Violette begins to announce her queerness by hacking off her long, brunette locks, an act that gets dad in hot water with their mom (who we never see and who is rarely mentioned).
By the next visit in Chapter 2, Violette has embraced an outwardly Butch appearance while Eva’s budding sexuality is overt. The pool, such a highlight of the first visit, has clearly been neglected, now a soupy swamp. Dad’s smarts are represented this time by Camila (Gabriella Surodjawan, older Sharlene Cruz), a student who comes to him for tutoring and who returns Violette’s flirtations. He’ll also insist on driving his daughters while drunk. Carmen intercedes. Chapter 3 will feature the crash in which Violette is injured, resulting in only Eva arriving the next time around, but a revelation of just what happened in the crashes aftermath is incredibly moving, painting Vicente in a new light once again.
Things will be further complicated by the arrival of a new stepsister, Natalia, with Yennie (Leslie Grace, “In the Heights”), who is cared for carefully in a car seat in Vicente’s back seat and Violette will arrive with Eva once again, but Lacorazza’s implication is that this is the end of an era, perhaps the end of this family story in an overly earnest and actorly coda. Yet there is no denying the power of the carefully layered incidents which form the portrayal of a flawed man who nonetheless gave his daughters everything he could. Cinematographer Alejandro Mejia uses the light to suggest mood, one triumphant moment finding dad taking his daughters on a pre-dawn hike, suggesting danger yet again, only to emerge on a hilltop for a spectacular view of the sunrise, a hopeful and loving moment of familial unity.
The casting of the two daughters across the years is problematic because of insufficient likeness, but “In the Summers” is nonetheless a stunning portrait of the profound effect of a part time dad on his children.
Robin's Review: C+
Music Box Films releases "In the Summers" into select theaters on 9/20/24, opening wider on 9/26/24. It will be screened on 9/25/24 as part of Cinefest Latino Boston.
