Indie Spirit Revue: "In the Summers"

by Nick Taylor

As beloved, disgustingly over-productive TFE writer Cláudio Alves phrased it to me, In the Summers would pair well with Janet Planet as studies of girls observing their parents over formative summers. Here, we see sisters Violetta (Lio Mehiel) and Eva (Sasha Calle) making four visits with their dad Vincente (Rene "Residente" Perez Joglar) in Las Cruces, New Mexico over the span of at least a decade. Vincent and their mother are separated, and the girl's trips are part of a regular visitation schedule. Costuming, personal styling, physical changes, and performance notes do a lot of work to suggest how much has changed in Violetta and Eva's lives without ever spelling out exactly what they've been up to, who they are now, or what they might think of their father. The family regularly visits a bar owned by Carmen (Emma Ramos), a wary, longtime friend of Vincente's…

Would In the Summers benefit from giving us a little more information than what we're offered? Almost certainly, and it doesn't even need to be less precious with its mystery. Stronger audiovisual ideas could give these structural gambits a boost, clarifying or suggesting ideas while staying as fractured as it pleases, though Lacorazza gets more mileage through her meat-and-potatoes indie approach than I'm crediting her for. Her best feat is generating a domestic uncanniness between the ever-changing daughters and the father purgatorially stuck in the same appearance, mannerisms, and appetites. Info on the shooting schedule is relatively sparse - all I've learned so far is filming wrapped in July of 2023 - but the transformation of the girl's appearances and affects are so convincing I kept wondering if director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio somehow shot it for a decade.

What we get is a collection of moments, memories, like someone trying to recall formative moments from their childhood and realizing the big moments weigh as much as the small ones. An uncomfortable, impromptu dance slides into a raucous game night. A promising road trip barely starts before the car is totaled, and the gutsy nighttime photography makes it genuinely unclear how severely each person is impacted. We end up in the same position of broken evaluation as Violeta and Eva - in one sense, Vincente is so easy to read, so predictable in his affections and fuck-ups that a night out drinking and playing pool goes downhill before he gets properly drunk. 

Yet we never know what to expect on a moment-to-moment basis, and Joglar is essential to maintaining this tricky balance. He shows us how Vincente genuinely cares for his daughter, and how this is fundamentally incompatible with every other element of his life. You feel bad for him but also relieved whenever his daughters leave. I'm so glad he got a Breakthrough Performer nomination, and if he wins, it'll be richly deserved. 

In The Summers is nominated for Best First Feature and Best Breakthrough Performance for Residente at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

Comments

[Cláudio Alves]

Thanks for the shout-out! But also, as time passes, Residente's performance lingers. I'm so happy he was nominated for the Breakthrough Award.