In the Summers (Lacorazza, 2024)
This film is Alessandra Lacorazza’s directorial debut. It won the US Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, so it is no surprise that it looks and feels more like a polished veteran’s work than that of a first-timer. It tells the story of two sisters who annually visit their father, Vincente, in New Mexico.
One possible downside of its being a debut feature is a lack of focus. I don’t have a problem with the film’s four-act structure, but it does seem as though the first parts of the film focus more on Vincente. As the sisters are younger, dad has to carry the narrative. René “Residente” Pérez Joglar gives a strong performance of an adult who makes a strong first impression but gradually shows some disturbing traits; for example he engages in a “game” of erratic driving while his daughters are in the car. If the whole film had been about Vincente, the narrative might functioned better.
But as the girls grow older, the film shifts its emphasis to their emerging identities and their growing sense of selfhood. This part, too, is interesting, but it would have been stronger if their narrative hadn’t been overshadowed by Dad’s in the first act. I can think of films that deal with children coming of age under the shadow of a powerful parental personality, such as Anywhere But Here. I could think of films that track adolescence through seasons. Boyhood was the first that came to mind. I am harder-pressed to think of successful examples of these elements being combined, and I wonder if the bifurcated structure was an artistic decision or a concession to the fact that “Residente” might be the film’s best box-office draw.
As a footnote, the DVD begins with a director’s note about subtitles. I have read some reviews from Sundance that criticized the film for not having subtitles for the Spanish dialogue. While Lacorazza defends that initial decision as consistent with the perspective of the film’s characters, the DVD does add subtitles for those passages. Whether the existence of the subtitles for the audience implies that the characters who are listening understand the dialogue is not something that casual viewers may think about, it is worth examining noting that their presence could change the interpretation of some scenes.
