August 2, 2024
by Carla Hay
Directed by Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio
Culture Representation: Taking place over an approximately 15-year period in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the dramatic film “In the Summers” features a predominantly Latin cast of characters (with a few African Americans and white people) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: Two daughters have a volatile relationship with their father, who has a bad temper and who spent time in prison.
Culture Audience: “In the Summers” will appeal primarily to people who are interested in watching well-acted dramas about emotionally difficult family relationships.
“In the Summers” is a well-acted portrait of two daughters and their troubled father, in a story that spans several years. More character development was needed for the daughters’ adult years, but the movie has impactful authenticity. Do not expect “In the Summers” to answer all of the questions that viewers might have about these characters. The narrative for the movie is a journey where certain time-period gaps in the characters’ lives are not shown or explained.
Written and directed by Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio, “In the Summers” is Samudio’s first feature film. “In the Summers” had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it won two awards: Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Dramatic (the festival’s highest accolade) and Grand Jury Prize: U.S. Dramatic and Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic. “In the Summers” had its New York premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Festival.
The two daughters in the movie are named Violeta and Eva. Their ages are only about 12 to 18 months apart from each other. Violeta is the introverted and moody older daughter, while Eva is the extroverted and fun-loving younger daughter. “In the Summers,” which takes place over a span of about 15 years, is told in chronological order in three chapter-like sections, with each section focusing on Violeta and Eva at certain points in their lives.
When Violeta and Eva are underage, they visit their father Vicente (played by René Pérez Joglar, also known as rapper Residente) during the summer seasons at his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico, as part of a custody arrangement that he has with the mother of Violeta and Eva, who live with their mother in California. This mother (who is unnamed in the movie) and Vicente were never married. She is also not seen in the movie, but she is mentioned multiple times in ways that make it obvious that she and Vicente had a bitter breakup. Her absence from the movie indicates that the mother of Violeta and Eva wants as little to do with Vicente as possible.
The first third of “In the Summers” shows Violeta (played by Dreya Renae Castillo) at about 9 or 10 years old and Eva (played by Luciana Quiñonez) at about 7 or 8 years old. The middle of the movie shows Violeta (played by Kimaya Thais Limòn) at about 13 years old and Eva (played by Allison Salinas) at about 12 years old. The last third of the movie shows Violeta (played by Lío Mehiel) at about 25 or 24 years old and Eva (played by Sasha Calle) at about 24 or 23 years old.
“In the Summers” begins by showing Vicente picking up tween Violeta and Eva to take them to his house, where the two girls hang out by the swimming pool. Vicente mentions that even though he was born in Puerto Rico, all of his friends are in the United States. “This is my home now,” he says of his place in New Mexico.
Vicente takes Violeta and Eva to a bar where he frequently hangs out and introduces them to bartender Carmen (played by Emma Ramos), whom Vicente has known since childhood. Vicente teaches Violeta and Eva how to play pool at this bar. Carmen treats Violeta and Eva with kindness and respect.
It all seems like enjoyable family time, but Vicente’s flaws start to show when he takes Violeta and Eva to an amusement park, where he and the girls go on a Tilt-A-Whirl ride. After the ride is over, Eva get sick and vomits in a garbage can. A concerned passerby woman (played by Erin Wendorf) asks if they need any help. Vicente gets very angry at the woman, curses at her, and tells her to mind her own business. It won’t be the last time that Vicente loses his temper in a very hostile way.
Through conversations, it’s revealed that Vicente spent time in prison and has a hard time finding or keeping a job. He also appears to have alcoholism—or, at the very least, he gets drunk in ways that are excessive, embarrassing, and potentially dangerous to himself and people around him. Vicente is also fond of smoking marijuana. It’s unclear where Vicente is getting money to pay his bills and party habits when he’s unemployed.
“In the Summers” is told from the perspectives of Violeta and Eva, who aren’t old enough at this point in their lives to get professional help for Vicente. And if even if they were old enough, it wouldn’t matter because insecure and arrogant Vicente gives the impression that he wouldn’t want the help. He has a macho personality that is quick to deny that he has any weaknesses or vulnerabilities.
The sisters are tight-knit and rely on each other for emotional support. As an example of their different personalities, there’s a scene where Vicente is driving Violeta and Eva at a high speed in his car on a street, just because he feels like being a daredevil. Violeta is fearful during this reckless driving, while Eva loves it.
Near the end of the movie’s segment that shows tween Violeta and Eva, there’s a scene where Violeta asks Eva to cut her hair short. Violeta will keep her hair short for the remainder of the years shown in the movie. She also stops wearing traditionally “feminine” clothes and wears outfits that are more unisex or “masculine.”
During the period of time depicting the adolescence of Violeta and Eva, it becomes much clearer to Violeta that she is a lesbian or queer. She becomes romantically attracted to a girl who’s about the same age named Camila (played by Gabriella Surodjawan), who shows up at one of the many house parties that Vicente likes to host. Vicente is very homophobic, so Violeta is afraid to tell him about her true sexuality.
Violeta becomes increasingly alienated from Vicente, who senses that Violeta is not heterosexual, but he doesn’t want to talk about it with her. Because he is such an irresponsible parent, Vicente thinks that one way he can bond with teenage Violeta is to teach her how to smoke marijuana. But he still has a raging temper that comes out in very ugly and harmful ways. Later, Carmen (who is an out lesbian) becomes an important role model and confidante to Violeta.
“In the Summers” has a somewhat awkward and abrupt transition to the last third of the movie that shows Violeta and Eva in their early-to-mid-20s. By this time, they no longer have to visit Vicente or spend any time living with him. Vicente has a much-younger live-in girlfriend named Yenny (played by Leslie Grace), and they have an infant daughter named Natalia (played by Indigo Montez), who are accepted by Violeta and Eva.
By the time the movie shows Violeta and Eva in their early-to-mid-20s, there are many unexplained and unspoken things that happened in between their early teens and their early-to-mid-20s. “In the Summers” doesn’t adequately show or tell what Violeta’s and Eva’s interests or hobbies are, as indications of their hopes and dreams. Instead, “In the Summers” defines Violeta and Eva in terms of how they cope with their father’s messy parenting.
Viewers learn that by the time adult Violeta and adult Eva see Vicente again after a period of estrangement, Violeta is in grad school. What type graduate program? The movie never says. However, it’s easy to predict what will happen when adult Violeta and single mother Camila (played by Sharlene Cruz) encounter each other after not seeing each other since they were in high school. As for adult Eva, at this point in her life, she’s unattached and having meaningless flings with men.
Mehiel and Calle give perfectly fine performances as adult Violeta and adult Eva, but there are too many unanswered questions about Violeta and Eva as adults. How did their upbringing affect their relationships with other people? What type of relationships do they have with their mother? What are the most important things in life to Violeta and Eva? The movie’s story really didn’t need the parts where Violeta and Eva are under the age of 10 and should have spent more time developing the characters of Violeta and Eva as adults because those questions are never answered in the movie.
The meaningful and best-acted part of “In the Summers” is in the middle section, when the tensions between teenage Violeta and Vicente flare up and boil over into angry conflicts. As an underage teen, Violeta is too young to be able to get out of this custody visitation with her father, but she’s too old to no longer be fully controlled by Vicente, in terms of what she does in her free time and what types of clothes she wants to wear. Violeta wants to assert her independence, but as an underage teen, she still has be somewhat under the control of a parent (Vicente) whose life is very much out of control.
Joglar gives a naturalistic performance as Vicente, who has a lot of flaws, but there are many people in real life who are like Vicente or who have parent similar to Vicente. The movie doesn’t sugarcoat or make excuses for Vicente’s bad decisions and awful temper, but instead presents these characteristics as harsh realities. “In the Summers” is more of a “slice of life” film than a fully complete story about this dysfunctional family that’s trying to heal from emotional wounds. The movie isn’t groundbreaking, but it offers several poignant moments that are credibly acted.
Music Box Films will release “In the Summers” in select U.S. cinemas on September 20, 2024. The movie will be released on digital and VOD on November 5, 2024.
