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…