Writer/director Alessandra Lacorazza begins her tender coming-of-age drama In the Summers with a nearly idyllic look at a summer spent between a father and his two daughters, as they warily reconnect after an unspecified amount of time apart. Vicente (René Pérez Joglar, aka rapper Residente) now has custody of his kids Violeta and Eva during the summer, and he's determined to make the most of their time together, sprucing up the house he inherited from his late mother and planning lots of fun activities for their few months in Las Cruces, New Mexico, before they head back to California to live with their mom.
That's just the first of four summers that In the Summers depicts, though, and over time the relationship between Vicente and his daughters (who are played by different actors at different ages) becomes a lot more strained. In the Summers is best in its quietest moments, when Lacorazza isn't reaching for serious dramatic impact. This isn't the story of an abusive relationship or an irreconcilable family rift, and the subtle shifts in the parent-child dynamic are more affecting than the self-consciously significant life events.
One of those events comes almost exactly halfway through the movie, via the kind of trauma that prestige indie dramas sometimes seem obligated to include in order to increase their narrative stakes (it's not surprising that In the Summers picked up the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival). That's not necessary here, and the sudden dark turn feels out of place with the mostly nostalgic tone, especially since Lacorazza returns to that tone again right away.
It's already clear that Vicente isn't a perfect father and that he makes mistakes and acts irresponsibly in ways that Violeta and Eva will probably carry with them for the rest of their lives. Piling on the external misery feels like a cruel manipulation of both the characters and the audience.
Thankfully, In the Summers recovers from there, without dismissing the severity of what happened. Since Lacorazza leaves out everything between the summers (which are all set several years apart), she relies on the cast to fill in the gaps, and Joglar effectively charts Vicente's evolution. He's introduced nervously fidgeting in his car as he waits for Violeta and Eva to arrive, clearly anxious about being the kind of father he believes his daughters deserve. He sometimes comes close to meeting those expectations, and he often falls short, but he never gives up on the effort.
Violeta and Eva never give up, either, even if they're often let down when they arrive for the summer. Casting multiple actors in the same roles makes it tougher to get a handle on the characters, although Lacorazza does a decent job of connecting the different versions over time. While Vicente is already an adult, and is mostly trying to keep himself on track, Violeta and Eva undergo major changes as they grow from tweens to adults, and that's where it's most essential to establish the continuity between who they were and who they become.
By the time the characters are in their early 20s, played by Lio Mehiel and Sasha Calle, the weight of their experiences is clear, and Mehiel and Calle carry all the baggage from the younger actors into the final segment. Aside from Vicente, the only other constant presence is Carmen (Emma Ramos), a bartender and childhood friend of Vicente's who becomes a sort of surrogate mother for the two girls, and later a support system for Violeta in her journey as a queer woman.
Most of that journey is left offscreen, though, and in that way In the Summers underserves its most complex character. The sun-dappled cinematography evokes a sense of childhood memories that are always sweet even when tinged with sadness, and Lacorazza captures the liminal space of Las Cruces as a border town between both nations and cultures. The rest of the details are left in the margins, and In the Summers leans a little too heavily on its admittedly impeccable vibes. ♦
In the Summers
