Sundance 2022: Happening, Neptune Frost, Summering | Festivals & Awards

Finally, there’s the disappointing “Summering,” from the great James Ponsoldt, writer/director of “The Spectacular Now” and “The End of the Tour.” The brilliant, empathetic filmmaker turned his newest project over to a tribute to what it means to be a girl, elevating the creative passion of young people in a way that’s not often seen in film. The truth is that stories of girlhood often feel shallow, failing to really respect the dreams and joy of those years before the pain of being a teenager or obligations of being an adult invade the world. It’s a great idea. I would love to see a gender-flipped “Stand by Me” that works. But too much of “Summering” feels overly scripted—it fails to find that realistic flow that a film like this needs to work. “Summering” needs to be a hangout movie, letting its characters be imperfect, quirky, and genuine, but it felt completely calculated to me, pushing them to manipulative subplots in pursuit of a story that doesn’t really come together.

That story starts in the final days of elementary school for Dina, Lola, Daisy, and Mari. It’s the summer before they start middle school, and they’re very aware that everything is about to change. I have a kid in 5th grade, and I did love the way Ponsoldt captures the hazy hang-outs of this age in the early scenes—times when kids just get together to do something. They’re not sure what. In fact, I would have watched that movie for 90 minutes—kids being kids. However, these particular kids find a dead body on one of their last days of summer and the film becomes about them trying to solve a mystery, one that reveals their own concerns about adulthood and their own futures.

It’s all admirable and the kind of thing that I’m drawn to in concept, but the execution is clunky and inconsistent. Some of the young performances feel unnatural and the film really apart when it starts to feel manipulative and melodramatic as its plot takes over. Ponsoldt will bounce back, of course, and I respect his effort to make something that would allow his daughter to feel seen in pop culture. If that happens because of “Summering” then it’s done its job. 

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