Sundance Film Festival 2022: Summering Fails To Capture The Magic Of Summer
Writer and director James Ponsoldt brings Stand By Me to a new generation with the tween girl-led coming-of-age film Summering. The film, which just debuted at Sundance Film Festival 2022, follows four best friends — Daisy (Lia Barnett), Mari (Eden Grace Redfield), Dina (Madalen Mills), and Lola (Sanai Victoria) — as they enjoy the last weekend of summer before middle school begins. But when they discover a dead body in the woods, it sets them on a journey to uncover who the man is and face their own personal struggles.
While the girls are haunted by the dead man and their concerns on what kind of person he was, Daisy deals with an uninterested mother following her father’s disappearance and Mari worries about transferring to a Catholic school away from her life-long friends. Outside of this, we don’t learn much about the individual girls and who they are.
Unfortunately, Summering doesn’t work. The script feels underdeveloped and inauthentic and has the lead actresses making decisions that don’t seem rational after finding a dead body. The mysterious man’s story ending anti-climactically and they try too hard to hammer home the idea that this group of friends is afraid to leave childhood behind.
While the film makes references to fantastical summer stories like Bridge To Terabithia and We Have Always Lived In A Castle, Summering is missing the magic of summer that it’s trying to capture.
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