A Nevada reservoir rumored to be a time portal keeps life interesting for the Crop, aimless teenage best friends in Sparks-until Cleo arrives determined to reach 1960s Paris.
Sparks is directed by Fergus Campbell which is his directorial debut.
Sparks is an interesting, almost immediately the whole premise immediately grabs your attention. A group of teens believe that a reservoir might be a portal through time, along the way there is this discussion about adolescence that gives the film and its characters more depth. While there are some writing issues here and there, Sparks ends up being a very charming little film that you really can’t help but appreciate the passion that went into it from the cast and crew.
The performances are incredibly fun here, it’s great to see Elsie Fisher again as she is quite a phenomenal actress and she continues to showcase that with this film. Madison Hu is also quite great and has such fun chemistry with the rest of the cast. The rest of the cast are just as great, everyone gives humorous and heartfelt performances that really add to the film’s fun spirit that’s present throughout the experience. Hearing the characters simply talk about their love for old cinema, their dreams and passions in life is truly fascinating and brings this beautiful raw into the mix.
The writing is humorous yet clever, the time travel aspect of it is fresh and works well with the context of the story. It’s not overly confusing and does not try to tangle itself into knots with trying to explain how it works. But the idea that is explored here as I said earlier is adolescences and captures this idea of wanting to be in a bigger place than you are currently in, there are some scenes of the teens just shouting ideas off the top of their heads which does a great job of depicting boredom but also having fun as well. It very much feels like a friend group that you might know of or even have one that you might have/currently are a part of.
The cinematography from Keldon Duane-McGlashan is absolutely gorgeous, it displays the beauty of the Nevada desert and adds its on bit of character as well. The direction from Fergus Campbell is sharp, careful and has this breezy atmospheric feel that makes these characters come to life.
Overall Sparks is a fun one, there is a lot of love for filmmaking here that really stands out. It might take some time to figure out what is exactly going on. But even then it’s a fun film that is a very quick 1 hour and 18 minutes.
After witnessing a sexual assault in Golden Gate Park, 8-year-old Josephine acts out violently as her parents struggle to help her process the trauma, causing her to seek control and justice in her own way.
Josephine is directed by Beth de Araújo director of Soft & Quiet (2022).
To say I was incredibly interested to see what Araújo would do next after the highly disturbing and shocking Soft & Quiet (2022) would be the understatement of the decade. While Soft & Quiet was disturbing in a louder and more in your face sense, Josephine is disturbing in a more quiet and calculated way that ultimately leads to a very grounded film that is truly powerful.
All three of the main performances are phenomenal, starting with Mason Reeves who gives one of the best child actor performances in recent memory and right from when she witnesses a horrific crime taking place you can automatically feel the brightness taken away from her. Reeves’s character Josephine who is an 8-year-girl completely shuts down and her behavior changes as well, it’s truly devastating to watch and the loss of innocence is fully on display here. Mason Reeves’s body language and long silent pauses are crushing and incredibly authentic. The film truly does a fascinating job of displaying how this sort of trauma can really affect someone especially a child who isn’t fully able to comprehend what they just saw.
Channing Tatum and Gemma Chan both give phenomenal performances here. Tatum gives a career best performance that really sticks with the viewer due to the amount of power and emotional depth that goes into his performance as Damien (Josephine’s father). Gemma Chan is the weakest of the three, however that does not mean for a second that she’s bad. She just doesn’t get as many huge moments of power, she does make up for it with more quiet ones that have this more distant feel, it’s this interesting yin and yang going on here. Tatum gives the more louder and striking moments whereas Chan gives this more distant yet incredibly effective performance. Chan’s character Claire (Mason’s mother) has all the worries of a mother and she really tries with all her might. Chan and Tatum work incredibly well together and really display the reactions of parents who are horrified effectively.
The film’s opening brings you right into the experience in the most disturbing way possible. It is a very disturbing moment that is what ultimately leads to the events of the film and how it traumatizes Josephine. We see over the course of the film with how much it’s really affecting Josephine and with trauma like this it does not simply go away. A child seeing an act of sexual violence and having so much weight on her shoulders because of being a witness is soul crushing.
I don’t want to say too much more as Josephine is the sort of experience that you should absolutely go into knowing as little as possible. It’s a film that is certainly not going to be for everyone due to disturbing nature. With that being said this film broke me and really made me cry, it’s a disturbing yet important film that I do recommend taking a look once it releases.
Follows Cody Parsons as he navigates a drug court program, while his foster brother Jack also deals with heroin addiction, and their sister tries to stay clean.
Union County is directed by Adam Meeks which is his directorial debut.
We have seen plenty of road to recovery films before, some good, some bad and some incredibly forgettable. Rarely we get to see one of these films that prioritizes authenticity in this case though Union County is one of those films. The story itself is a very traditional road to recovery film, but it’s the details that only add up to this film which helps it reach the finish line in the end.
First and foremost a large majority of the supporting cast (including Annette Deao who is a huge stand out of the film and I’ll get into in a moment) are not actors. They worked at the drug court program itself and some were even participants of the program as well. This brings this blend of documentary and narrative film elements into the mix which Adam Meeks does such a fantastic job of presenting. It’s a beautifully told story that feels authentic the whole way through the experience.
The performances are all fantastic across the board, Will Poulter once again shows he is a terrific actor. He gives this grounded and convincing performance as Cody a man who is struggling with addiction, there’s subtle moments that show internal pain. His portrayal of addiction and recovery is deeply humane, there are so many striking moments presented here each of which really build Poulter’s performance. Poulter’s ability to show immense regret through this more muted direction feels incredibly real and is presented incredibly well. This is undoubtedly a career best worthy performance from Will Poulter.
Noah Centineo shows that he has really evolved as an actor, he plays Jack (Cody’s brother) who is a very complex and grounded character that is also struggling with addiction. Although his screen time is limited, he completely transforms into his role which leaves a lasting impact on the viewer. Finally there is Annette Deao and the rest of the supporting cast who as I mentioned before either work at the program or are participants of the program. Deao is the stand out among them as she gives a phenomenal performance where she is basically playing herself, the conversations between her and the rest of the cast are nothing short of brilliant. These arguably some of the film’s most raw moments and they all really deliver in this striking detail. Deao is a real life counselor at the program making her scenes all the more powerful.
As mentioned before the film blends documentary and narrative film elements together, Meeks does an excellent job at doing so especially when it comes to details. The writing has this raw feel that while can have the very traditional road to recovery film elements, still manages to be striking in its execution. Authenticity is what is holding this film together and luckily the whole way through there isn’t a single moment that takes you out of the film.
Overall Union County is an authentic experience that tells such a powerful story of recovery. The cast do such a phenomenal job of telling this story and truly bring so much strength, emotion and care into the experience.
A 14-year-old girl named Sid navigates identity, desire, and the internet during a transformative summer, imitating older peers to fit in
Big Girls Don’t Cry is directed by Paloma Schneiderman which is her directorial debut.
Big Girls Don’t Cry is yet another pretty solid coming of age film, that does have some familiar beats as other films in the genre. But expands upon them as the film goes on, we quickly get some incredibly done chemistry, exploration of the characters and the daily lives of them. All of this combined together paints a quite raw picture that in some way connect with the viewer.
The performances are what hold this film together. Ani Palmer plays Sid a 14 year old girl who is trying to find who she is and wants to desperately fit in with her old peers. Palmer gives a phenomenal performance as Sid due to her long pauses and facial acting that are both striking and capture that of a teenager growing up. It’s truly a fascinating performance that really sticks with you after viewing. Rain Spencer is just as fantastic here, Spencer has plenty of moments where she completely steals the scene she’s in. I was unfamiliar with Rain Spencer (I have not seen The Summer I Turned Pretty) prior to watching this film, so I’m quite impressed with her performance here.
Which does lead me to one of my favorite parts of this film…the chemistry. Every single one of the cast feels connected and has natural dialogue touch that makes the film all the more real. That’s especially the case with Ani Palmer and Rain Spencer, every single moment the two share the screen it feels like we are listening to a raw conversation between two individuals.
The writing is quite strong here as well, while there are some moments that are a bit on the weaker side. The rest of the film really brings the viewer into Sid’s experience and presents it in this very grounded way. Throughout the film we see Sid trying to figure out who she is and the more important moments that lead up to her to figure out the final conclusion.
Overall Big Girls Don’t Cry can definitely feel a bit familiar at times and it may not bring anything new to the coming of age film genre. However I do think this film is undoubtedly going to connect with a lot of people simply due to how it’s presented and how well written the characters really are and sometimes with films like this that’s all that really matters.
Big Girls Don’t Cry currently has no release date.
After a video of his music goes viral, he starts selling drugs to earn money for his music, leading him into a world of danger and conflict.
Clika is directed by Michael Greene director of Live (2018).
There is not a whole lot to comment on here with Clika it’s a movie that means well, but ultimately ends up becoming such a huge mess when it blends so many genres together and isn’t able to nail any of them down.
The acting in particular is incredibly rough, it’s hard to really blame the actors as they are given such a shoddy script to work with. However a major problem comes in when singing is involved, the problem being that Jay-Dee can’t sing all that well. You could do far worse, but it is all over the place and does take the viewer out of the movie almost immediately. Eric Roberts has his few moments but even then it feels like he just came on set to collect a paycheck and book it out of there.
The over reliance on voice overs that are delivered poorly certainly hurt the movie, however what really breaks this movie is the constant jumping between genres. You have a music biopic, drama and a thriller none of which are done particularly well. The music biopic part is filled to the brim with cliches that it’s almost impressive how many they squeezed in. The dramatic moments aren’t enough to really bring the viewer’s attention, the only thing that’s really keeping the viewer is the lower budget filmmaking having some sort of charm (but even then that can only work for so long.) Finally there is the thriller portion which ends up being a crime plot that does end up being the movie’s strongest part but unfortunately still lacks a ton of development.
I get Clika was loosely based on the true life story of Jay Dee (Jesus Diego), but the way this movie goes about telling this story in this poorly constructed mess is very baffling. It’s frustrating because stories like this deserve to be told properly, it’s ultimately one of those bad movies that are harmless but really makes you leave the movie feeling like there was a missed opportunity here.
After losing their son Hamnet to plague, Agnes and William Shakespeare grapple with grief in 16th-century England. A healer, Agnes must find strength to care for her surviving children while processing her devastating loss.
Hamnet is a powerhouse of a film. it’s a journey of heartbreaking, healing and eventually trying to move on from a devastating loss in this case it’s William Shakespeare (played by Paul Mescal) and his wife Anne Hathaway (played by Jessie Buckley) who lost their 11-year-old son Hamnet. We mainly follow Hathaway’s journey of healing but we also do get to see powerful moments of Shakespeare trying to move on.
Jessie Buckley delivers one of the best performances of the decade so far, she completely captures the pain of loss and trying so hard to move on. Finding that path where you can finally tell yourself that “it’s okay to move on and feel at peace” it’s a road that I’m sure everyone has gone through at some point in their lives. We see from the very start to the end of how masterfully Buckley portrays this, it’s done in this beautiful yet devastating way that brings the viewer to tears during certain moments of the film.
Paul Mescal is wonderful as Shakespeare and connects well with Jessie Buckley. Jacobi Jupe as Hamnet is a heartbreaking performance that shows an incredible amount of talent from Jupe who I’m sure is going to go on to have an incredible career. Noah Jupe (Jacobi Jupe’a brother) is only briefly in the film but the scene he’s given in the film’s climax is incredibly powerful and breathtaking.
The film’s ending is one of the best of 2025, while yes On The Nature Of Daylight by Max Richter can be overused in film, it is effectively used here and really captures the film’s theme of loss, healing and moving on. The final scene itself is also just one of the most beautiful portrayals of someone healing and getting the okay from themself to finally move on. It’s a scene that will not doubt make you cry.
Chloe Zhao once brings such a raw experience to the viewer that leaves you mesmerized and will keep you thinking about Hamnet for a very long time.
Hamnet is available on all VOD platforms.
10/10 A+
Die My Love
Grace, a writer and young mother, is suffering from post partum depression and slowly spiralling into madness. Moving into an old house with her husband, Jackson, her mind begins to unravel as she becomes increasingly agitated and erratic
As I said before, Die My Love and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You can absolutely be considered sister films. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You had the more clear vision inside someone’s head, Die My Love is if you took that same person’s mind and continued to bury with darkness or this void like feel. Which works masterfully with the atmosphere attached to the film.
Jennifer Lawrence’s performance as Grace is exactly why a lot of people consider Lawrence to be one of the best of her generation. Every single moment it feels like you are inside the mind of someone going through major depression and so many different thoughts at once. It eventually starts to affect Grace’s life which gives the viewer several moments of breakdowns and a lot of mood switching. The film also tackles the topic of motherhood along with the intensity and wanting an escape, it’s all portrayed brilliantly by Jennifer Lawrence who gives a next level performance. A performance that is going to be talked about heavily as the years go on.
Robert Pattinson is also quite fantastic here, his chemistry with Jennifer Lawrence works wonderfully and shares so many powerful moments, his character Jackson adds depth to the film along with feeling complex. The relationship between Grace and Jackson feel all too real as we get to see the two’s completely different personalities and actions throughout the film.
Die My Love also has this void like atmosphere. Whether it be from scale of the film, the cinematography from cinematographer Seamus McGarvey or from Lynne Ramsey’s flawless direction. It’s truly a hauntingly beautiful film that is incredibly striking to the eyes.
Die My Love is one of the films here that I absolutely plan on talking more about at great length, so for now go into this one knowing as little as possible.
Die My Love is available on all VOD platforms.
10/10 A+
Sentimental Value
After their mother’s death, sisters Nora and Agnes reconnect with their estranged father, Gustav, a once-famous director. He offers Nora the lead in his comeback film, but she refuses, only to find he’s cast a young Hollywood star instead, complicating their family dynamics.
Sentimental Value is my favorite film of 2025, it’s an incredible film with so much going on here that much like Die My Love I plan on talking about this one at greater length. But for now I’ll talking about the basics as to what makes this one so phenomenal.
It should come to no surprise that the cast is what really makes this one as beautiful as it is. Whereas a lot of film try incredibly hard and fail to get each of the cast to contribute in a meaningful way. Sentimental Value manages to do that quite easily due to Joachim’s direction, his script along with Eskil Vogt and the brilliant performances from Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgard, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Elle Fanning.
Renate Reinsve plays Nora one of the daughters of Gustav Borg (played by Stellan Skarsgard) a celebrated film director who wants to give Nora the leading role. The film’s main theme comes in with a path to healing and trying to restart a fractured bond. Reinsve continues to show she’s one of the best actresses currently working, she gives a powerful and emotional performance that she displays perfectly. Her quiet moments with Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and Stellan Skarsgard especially show how much chemistry and human connection, she has this beautiful ability to navigate vulnerability, humor and pain. When a certain scene demands one of the three she is able to quickly bring it to the table. A beautiful performance that truly is a transcendent role.
Stellan Skarsgard as Gustv is a career best worthy performance, he brings nuance and vulnerability to a character who we see is very complex. Whether at times he can feel difficult or he finally tries to understand where Nora is coming from. It’s a beautiful way of showing the father and daughter bond and its ups and downs, plus what’s needed to repair it. Skarsgard is already a phenomenal actor, so he naturally does a fantastic job here. His scenes with Elle Fanning in particular shine and show the thoughts and powerful yet quiet moments of his character.
Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas plays Nora’s sister Agnes, I was unfamiliar with who Lilleaas was but after seeing her performance I truly can’t wait to see what she does next. Lilleaas gets one particularly powerful scene of Agnes and Nora both comforting each other, the two’s eye contact, speech and body language are all top notch and truly deliver one of the film’s most beautiful moments. Lilleaas commands the screen whenever she’s present and truly delivers a lot of heart and care into her performance.
Finally there is Elle Fanning who plays Rachel Kemp a famous American actress who is hired to play the lead in Gustav’s film. Elle Fanning is given the hardest role here, which is to play an actor that wasn’t right for the part. It’s a challenging role that can easily end up coming off as more so playing yourself. That is not the case here for Elle Fanning, the way Fanning goes about playing Rachel is such a beautiful portrayal of an actress who although wasn’t right for Gustav’s film still shows sincerity and tenderness throughout the film. It comes to a breaking point where she tells Gustav that she isn’t right for the part, the buildup to that moment is truly fascinating and with how Elle Fanning delivers that moment is truly remarkable. Rachel Kemp is a character that Elle Fanning truly brings to life and really does feel like the type of powerhouse performance that Fanning’s career has been leading up to. This performance right here perfectly shows why she is one of the best of her generation a true performer that has so much talent and passion.
Sentimental Value is a beautiful film that has the classic human feel around it, how we explore our bonds and what it takes to repair them. It’s a beautiful story that I truly recommend checking out if you haven’t already.
Sentimental Value is available on all VOD platforms.
Hello again! So you might be wondering what is this? Well I have 6 films from 2025 I just never got around to fully reviewing. So I decided to do something interesting, instead of flat out just not reviewing them I decided to do a wrap up post talking a little bit about each film and moving on to the next one. I’m splitting it into two parts just to keep things a bit more organized, In the future I do plan on talking about some of these films in greater length. But for now I at least want to share my love for these films in brief detail. So let’s start with..
28 Years Later
Set decades after the Rage Virus outbreak, it follows a new group of survivors on an island who venture onto the mainland, discovering mutated infected and new threats.
28 Years Later is quite honestly one of the most hauntingly beautiful horror films of the 2020s. There is a whole lot to be said here about the theme of death and how the film goes about exploring it. Jodie Comer gives a phenomenal performance that has this human connection feel that is constant throughout the film, Alfie Williams is just as fantastic and connects instantly with the people he meets along the way.
Ralph Fiennes as Dr Ian Kelson gives us one of the best written characters of the 2020s, throughout the film we are made to believe that he is this crazy lunatic yet what we get is this calm and balanced man that has this beautiful understanding of life and death. It really brings tears to your eyes due to just how beautiful the dialogue really is here.
Combine that with a beautiful score by Young Fathers (especially their song Remember), stunning cinematography and brutal kills. You have yourself such a wonderful film that you will never forget.
28 Years Later is available on all VOD platforms.
10/10 A+
Marty Supreme
Marty Mauser, a young man with a dream no one respects, goes to hell and back in pursuit of greatness.
Marty Supreme is one of those films that continues to get better and better as it goes on, what starts out as a simple enough film turns into a chaotic film that ups the ante and never falls to the floor.
Timothee Chalamet is not holding back here at all and delivers one of his greatest performances (arguably his best), he fully embodies Marty Mauser (which the film is loosely based on. He balances this likable and unlikable aspect that hits this sweet spot that in turns makes him such a fascinating character.
Odessa A’zion gives such a heartbreaking performance during the second half of the film, it’s a soul crushing yet beautiful performance that sticks with you throughout the experience. Her chemistry with Chalamet is wonderful and even when she isn’t on screen you do feel her presence.
What makes Marty Supreme so fantastic is it has this group of characters who balance this realness and weirdness. They all fit so well together in this perfectly bizarre atmosphere the film has going on here, every single moment there is some perfectly normal interactions going on along with some bizarre ones.
Marty Supreme is a wild ride from beginning to end that truly captures every single moment it throws at the viewer.
Marty Supreme is available on all VOD platforms.
10/10 A+
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You
While trying to manage her own life and career, a woman on the verge of a breakdown must cope with her daughter’s illness, an absent husband, a missing person, and an unusual relationship with her therapist.
2025 Wrap Up Review
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is like entering someone else’s head, seeing the struggles, thoughts and memories that constantly go on inside their head. If I Had Legs I’d Kick You and Die My Love can definitely be considered sister films mainly due to how similar they are thematically however they go about this in much different ways.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You goes about this in a less deep in a void feel, it’s more clear and we can get a better idea of what is going on inside Linda’s (played by Rose Byrne) head. With that being said it’s still a very navigating experience (in a good way). It’s one of those experiences that ultimately feels very rewarding to go on and once you reach the end it’s genuinely stunning to watch.
So much has been said about how fantastic Rose Byrne’s performance is and the praise is absolutely earned. Rose Byrne gives a career best performance that feels next level, a performance that captures the constant thoughts of motherhood and how crushing it can be. Byrne perfectly matches the surreal atmosphere that demands this spiral and break free type of feel that truly leaves the viewer stunned. It’s an unforgettable performance that I still think about constantly.
I highly recommend going into If I Had Legs I’d Kick You knowing as little as possible, it’s such a powerful film about the stress of motherhood and what constantly goes inside the mind during that period of time.
If I Had Legs I’d Kick You is available on all VOD platforms.
Centers on a grieving family who move to a new town after a tragedy, only to find sinister secrets lurking in the woods behind their house.
Rock Springs is directed by Vera Miao which is her directorial debut.
Rock Springs is a very admirable film, while not every single element works entirely the film is clearly made with a lot of knowledge and care about certain topics. Those being racism and trauma, more so about generational ties to trauma. The film mixes this incredibly with horrors of a massacre that actually did happen (based on the 1885 Wyoming incident where white miners murdered at least 28 Chinese miners.) all of this together creates a horrifying image that brings the viewer into the film.
The performances all around are great especially Kelly Marie Tran and Benedict Wong, Tran does a fantastic job of playing a grieving mother. It’s a stunning performance that really sticks with the viewer the whole way through, Wong absolutely nails his performance during the film’s more historical parts. The amount of power and striking atmosphere that goes into his performance is astounding.
The film bounces a bit with the past and present, but it’s done in this way where the film cleverly brings it to you, like we are discovering the dark history of Rock Springs itself. It feels like we as the viewers actually discovered something and now we are told to apply that information into the present day. Not every single part of the translation to past and present works entirely, however there are some genuinely atmospheric moments that do capture the dark history of Rock Springs.
The film’s themes of racism and trauma are well done here, the racism comes from the real event and the generational trauma comes from how the past and present are connected that trauma never really goes away. The script from Vera Miao has some powerful moments that clearly have this sense of knowledge behind them, these moments might not be anything incredibly groundbreaking. However I do think the careful nature of the script more than makes up for it.
I do think some of the editing does end up hurting the connection between the past and present, it makes a few scenes drag out for a bit longer than they should. It’s worth noting that the film does take a bit to get going, however the supernatural elements and the historical elements keep it afloat and really bring you into the experience.
Overall Rock Springs is a solid film, it’s admirable film that executes its ideas decently well. There is a few bumps in the road, however that’s not enough to stop the film from being incredibly intriguing.
In Hong Kong, a young woman haunted by visions of her future self meets a stranger who changes the course of her night-and possibly her life.
Zi is directed by Kogonada director of Columbus (2017), After Yang (2021) and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025).
Zi is a return to form for Kogonada, after last year’s disappointing A Big Bold Beautiful Journey it is nice to see Kogonada return to what he’s best at. Although Zi is heavily flawed and is still not as great as Kogonada’s first two films, there is still a lot to like here and there’s some genuinely great moments that make Zi shine.
The performances from Michelle Mao and Haley Lu Richardson are both quite strong here, the two have great chemistry that over the course of the film builds into something beautiful. There are some silly moments in between it all, Richardson’s character El immediately starts crying for Zi (played by Michelle Mao) after only meeting her for 10 minutes. However that actually does work here as the film is going for a much more experimental direction and I do think what ends up getting revealed later on justifies this. Mao and Richardson play their characters well and have some very real moments, there is some great facial acting and quiet moments that help build their bond. Jin Ha who plays Min gets the short end of the stick, his character is underdeveloped and just not all that interesting, he does however show off his great singing voice (he’s been on Broadway).
The writing is the film’s weakest point, the story is a very thinly written narrative. The premise here is Zi gets visions of the future and sees an older version of El, the two meet and from there very little happens. There’s just not a whole lot to chew on here writing wise, with that being said there’s beautiful moments that do happen and I do think the ending wraps it up nicely.
It’s a much more experimental film compared to A Big Bold Beautiful Journey it’s an incredibly small budget of these characters walking around in the city. Admittedly the city element does bring some excellent atmosphere that does create this beautiful tone to the film. The score is beautiful as always when it comes to Kogonada’s films, it fits the atmosphere that is required and brings this level of beauty and warmth that helps elevate the film.
Overall Zi is definitely an improvement over A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025), it’s a nice return of what Kogonada is best at. If you can get past the thin story you should be able to enjoy this one for what it is.
Following a breakup with her boyfriend and loss of her job, a woman heads to her hometown, where she reunites with friends and former flings, which turns her life upside down.
Chasing Summer is directed by Josephine Decker director of Madeline’s Madeline (2018), Shirley (2020), The Sky Is Everywhere (2022) and a few others.
Chasing Summer is a cute little 91 minute comedy that doesn’t overstay its welcome, there isn’t a whole lot to talk about with this one. It’s a midlife crisis film about a woman who loses her job and man, she moves back to her parent’s place and we see wacky shenanigans follow. What you see is what you get from this one, luckily the performances and Josephine Decker’s strong direction make this entertaining enough.
Iliza Shlesinger (who also wrote the film’s script) is by and large what keeps this film going. There’s some genuinely funny moments due to her performance, the interactions she has with some of the other characters are genuinely great and at times feels all too real. Lola Tung is great here as well although she is very underutilized and only gets so much to really do. She does get one interaction with Shlesinger that is quite solid however.
Shlesinger’s script is decent enough, there are some genuinely funny moments and there’s a nice balance of drama and comedy. The twist the film goes for however can be seen coming a mile away and unfortunately the third act is not as strong as the rest of the film. It’s so much slower (not in a good way) and at times feels a bit redundant. I do think Decker’s direction does salvage this a bit by making this feel a bit more personal and has the feel of somebody telling us this story rather than this being unexpectedly dumped on us all at once.
I do appreciate Josephine Decker going for something a bit different from her previous films, even if Chasing Summer is not as good as her previous work. There is a lot of heart here that does help the film cross the finish line, there is this wave of nostalgia to the film. Seeing people you thought you wouldn’t see again, or finding out people from your town you grew up in are still there. There’s this sweet and real feel that Decker captures that gives the film more room to breathe.
Overall Chasing Summer is a decent little comedy, it has its flaws but it does have enough charm and fun to be worth a watch.
Jerome Reviews... 