The informal intimacy of amateur film formats, such as Hi8 or MP4, is often used by film makers. But seldom with such intense beauty as by Torres Leiva. Moving observations about the certainties and uncertainties of love, family and other relationships, around a summer resort in the mountains of Chile.
Sunlight plays through the leaves, shining on the water of the swimming pool and on the guests lazing or sauntering around an old spa resort in southern Chile. Inside, the staff receive lessons in folding serviettes and from afar someone approaches on a motorbike after having a tattoo done. In the background, a young couple practices kissing.
Like Torres Leiva's previous The Sky, the Earth and the Rain (Tiger Awards Competition 2008), Summertime is a mosaic filled with minor everyday occurrences and outflanking manoeuvres. The film focuses on the mood, occasionally captured in extreme close-ups of eyes or drops of water on the skin. Love, desire and loneliness are themes in this film that, in the director's words, 'walks a thin line between beauty and desperation'.
Shot on location, where Torres Leiva often accompanied his grandparents as a child, Summertime came about with the support of the Hubert Bals Fund and premiered in Venice.
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@baskaufmann: Thanks for the compliment. I'm indeed a fully qualified nerd, with all certifications and titles that go along with it. And indeed: movies must make sense to me, be it a plot, a morale, a message, whatever. From the 46 films I saw with this festival, only 3 failed in this respect, including this one.
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Webreview from JvH48 on 07 February 07:14
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Mark as improper
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shut up nerd, ratio you dont need. feeling is the thing in movies, in this movie feeling is good. you need to get feeling quickly in your skin
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Webreview from baskaufmann on 06 February 04:27
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Mark as improper
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I did not heed the warning signs in the announcement text for this film. It specifically statet that only small things would happen in the summer resort. Nobody could expect it to be that little, being merely a series of holiday snapshots with no connecting story line to speak of. Maybe I'm a too rational guy, who does not pick up the atmosphere?? That should be it. Anyway, I did not wait until the end to find out whether something not-so-small was about to happen. Maybe I was wrong, but it was the last film of a full festival day. The decision to walk out was easy for that reason alone.
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Webreview from JvH48 on 01 February 08:15
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Mark as improper
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