Monday, June 20, 2005
CRUEL SUMMER
Saw the new English film My Summer of Love at Landmark's Century Centre on Friday evening. (Incidentally, isn't that one of the clunkiest names for a movie theater ever? What century are they talking about? What center? Why is center spelled the British way?)
My Summer of Love tells the story of Mona (Nathalie Press), a teenager killing time in a small village in Yorkshire. Mona's father abandoned the family long ago and her mother recently died of cancer, leaving her with her older brother, Phil (Paddy Considine), a former hellraiser who has reformed and found Jesus. Mona and Phil live above a pub that their mother used to run and which Phil has decided to turn into a meeting place for his evangelical friends.
As the film opens, we see Mona wandering the countryside around her village. She is discovered lying by the side of a road by another young woman on horseback. The other girl's name is Tasmin (Emily Blunt); she quickly informs Mona that she is staying at her parents's country estate for the summer because she has been kicked out of boarding school. Tasmin's name, accent, and house tell us that she is from a very well-off upper-class family. Indeed, the two girls's means of transportation show us everything we need to know about their class differences: Mona lugs a broken down scooter, while Tasmin towers high above Mona on her magnificent horse. The two walk and talk for a little while. They part ways as they reach the path to Tasmin's manor house, Tasmin inviting Mona to stop by at any time.
Mona takes Tasmin up on her offer and the two girls begin spending all of their time together. They drink, smoke, sunbathe, and talk about their lives. Their friendship, originally inspired by summer boredom, quickly develops in intensity, as Mona and Tasmin begin to experiment sexually with each other. Mona's brother isn't too keen on her relationship with Tasmin, however, and his repeated warnings to her set in motion the events that lead to the emotionally-scarring climax of the film.
My Summer of Love is a quiet character study without much plot - my favorite kind of film. (Seriously, I'm not being sarcastic.) We learn about the characters just from watching them. They don't speak very often and what they say isn't always very memorable, but it is often very revealing. For instance, a drunken Tasmin quotes Nietzsche to Mona during one of their first times hanging out together. The quote isn't really important, but what is important is what the quote shows us about Tasmin. We see that she's intellectually pretentious, which is another way of saying that she's vain.
While I liked My Summer of Love, I didn't think it was a great film. Although it doesn't have much of a plot, what plot it does have is fairly obvious; we can see where the story's going right away. The two lead actresses are very good, but not quite skilled enough to add something more to the script. They don't provide any bits of business to fill out their roles, to more fully suggest the inner lives of their characters. Their relative inexperience as actors is especially evident when Paddy Considine is on screen. He's not in the film for very long, but he makes the most of his scenes. He plays the part of Phil with a quiet intensity that suggests the violence lurking beneath the character's newfound piety. You can't take your eyes off him when he's on screen.
All in all, My Summer of Love was a good movie, well worth seeing. It was also a nice break from blockbuster season. ¶ 9:42 AM
My Summer of Love tells the story of Mona (Nathalie Press), a teenager killing time in a small village in Yorkshire. Mona's father abandoned the family long ago and her mother recently died of cancer, leaving her with her older brother, Phil (Paddy Considine), a former hellraiser who has reformed and found Jesus. Mona and Phil live above a pub that their mother used to run and which Phil has decided to turn into a meeting place for his evangelical friends.
As the film opens, we see Mona wandering the countryside around her village. She is discovered lying by the side of a road by another young woman on horseback. The other girl's name is Tasmin (Emily Blunt); she quickly informs Mona that she is staying at her parents's country estate for the summer because she has been kicked out of boarding school. Tasmin's name, accent, and house tell us that she is from a very well-off upper-class family. Indeed, the two girls's means of transportation show us everything we need to know about their class differences: Mona lugs a broken down scooter, while Tasmin towers high above Mona on her magnificent horse. The two walk and talk for a little while. They part ways as they reach the path to Tasmin's manor house, Tasmin inviting Mona to stop by at any time.
Mona takes Tasmin up on her offer and the two girls begin spending all of their time together. They drink, smoke, sunbathe, and talk about their lives. Their friendship, originally inspired by summer boredom, quickly develops in intensity, as Mona and Tasmin begin to experiment sexually with each other. Mona's brother isn't too keen on her relationship with Tasmin, however, and his repeated warnings to her set in motion the events that lead to the emotionally-scarring climax of the film.
My Summer of Love is a quiet character study without much plot - my favorite kind of film. (Seriously, I'm not being sarcastic.) We learn about the characters just from watching them. They don't speak very often and what they say isn't always very memorable, but it is often very revealing. For instance, a drunken Tasmin quotes Nietzsche to Mona during one of their first times hanging out together. The quote isn't really important, but what is important is what the quote shows us about Tasmin. We see that she's intellectually pretentious, which is another way of saying that she's vain.
While I liked My Summer of Love, I didn't think it was a great film. Although it doesn't have much of a plot, what plot it does have is fairly obvious; we can see where the story's going right away. The two lead actresses are very good, but not quite skilled enough to add something more to the script. They don't provide any bits of business to fill out their roles, to more fully suggest the inner lives of their characters. Their relative inexperience as actors is especially evident when Paddy Considine is on screen. He's not in the film for very long, but he makes the most of his scenes. He plays the part of Phil with a quiet intensity that suggests the violence lurking beneath the character's newfound piety. You can't take your eyes off him when he's on screen.
All in all, My Summer of Love was a good movie, well worth seeing. It was also a nice break from blockbuster season. ¶ 9:42 AM
