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CIFF 2014: Ablations Review
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Review: Fury

CIFF 2014: Summer Review

by Taylor Sinople on October 19, 2014

Living in Chicago, it’s easy to take for granted the social benefits of a metropolis. A first thought is that you’re able to pull from a larger pool of possible friendships, relationships, colleagues, and mentors. But the inverse is also true in that you’re able to choose who you don’t want to know, and what you don’t want those people to know about you. The smaller a town is, the less options you have in this regard, and the harder it can feel to be alone – a big problem for sixteen-year-old Anne (Sigrid ten Napel) whose disinterest in boys has become painfully obvious to her rural Dutch community.

“This is me when everything was normal,” the narration begins. Living with a jolly but ineffective father, a persistently moody mother, and an older brother who’s recently moved his bedroom onto the backyard seems to have primed Anne for rebellion. In a town where everyone knows everyone and there’s not much to do but drink, a visit from an outsider is a major event. Cue the roar of a motorcycle and the arrival of Lena (Jade Olieberg) – a sexy, leather-clad woman that instantly attracts Anne.

Hollywood films may be guilty of failing to write iconic characters with diverse backgrounds and sexualities, but “Summer,” as an LGBT sexual awakening drama, is manipulative in its own ways. Marjolein Bierens wrote the screenplay, and significantly oversteps the motivations necessary for her character to come out as a homosexual. The men of “Summer,” all the men, are predatory beasts. They drink and burp, take advantage of women, neglect their wives, and even get away with rape. Anne isn’t given a single reasonable interaction with another man, resulting in the arrival of a gentle, kind woman seemingly like the easy alternative to her specific surroundings — not the sudden uncovering of a previously restrained lesbianism.

Director Colette Bothof practices the storytelling craft here, but this film is not a winner. The opening narration has Anne introducing everything about her life, but the content isn’t nearly as interesting as the film seems to think it is. “That’s my brother” and “this is the road we ride our bikes on every Tuesday.” There’s no follow-through on this quirky sort of summer-to-change-our-lives technique. To show the character’s life changing is not enough if we, too, aren’t changed from witnessing it. “Summer” is a by-the-books construction of a film, but it’s not a very entertaining and complex one.

3 out of 10 points

Return to CIFF 2014 Coverage
Language

Dutch

Runtime

1 hr. 25 min.

Genre

Drama

Director

Colette Bothof

Cast

Steef Cuijpers, Pieter Dictus, Martijn Lakemeier, Jade Olieberg, Lisa Smit, Lisanne Sweere, Sigrid ten Napel, Eva van der Gucht, Willemijn van der Ree

(All Features), (All Reviews), Chicago International Film Festival 2014, Drama, Event Coverage, Features, Foreign, Issue #25 - Horror Week, Reviews
ciff 2014Colette BothofEva van der GuchtJade OliebergLisa SmitLisanne SweereMartijn LakemeierPieter DictusSigrid ten NapelSteef CuijpersWillemijn van der ReeZomer
ciff 2014, Colette Bothof, Eva van der Gucht, Jade Olieberg, Lisa Smit, Lisanne Sweere, Martijn Lakemeier, Pieter Dictus, Sigrid ten Napel, Steef Cuijpers, Willemijn van der Ree, Zomer
About the Author
Taylor Sinople
Taylor Sinople
Taylor is a Chicago-based writer and aspiring film historian. He is the editor here at TFP, and has contributed to a number of international publications such as Cinema Scandinavia, PopMatters, and Room 101 Magazine. He can also be found listening to podcasts, researching topics he has little use for, or running after a city bus.
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CIFF 2014: Fair Play Review

by Taylor Sinople on October 27, 2014
When a young athlete reaches a certain skill level in a sport, their talent becomes their obligation in the eyes of others. Suddenly there’s money and awards and honor at stake and a good thing becomes an angle to be manipulated. Anna (Judit Bárdos), a rising track star, faces an ethical dilemma when she’s selected […]
 

CIFF 2014: Creep Review

by Taylor Sinople on October 20, 2014
“Creep” finds Mark Duplass (“Safety Not Guaranteed,” “The One I Love”) and buddy Patrick Brice with a spare weekend, a digital camera, and a scary premise. Okay, it wasn’t nearly that simple – Brice and Duplass worked on the film for over a year – but this fusion of found footage horror and mumblecore dialogue […]
 

CIFF 2014: Ablations Review

by Taylor Sinople on October 19, 2014
“Ablations” is a black comedy full of surrealistic departures and stunning art direction unmotivated by its plot, begging the question “but why?” to which director Arnold de Parscau seems to shrug, “why not?” Benoît Delépine (“Avida,” “Aaltra”) wrote the screenplay and builds a navigable mystery in the first act. We’ve got an event that can’t […]
 

CIFF 2014: The Owners Review

by Taylor Sinople on October 19, 2014
Say goodbye to law and order when you make trouble with the police chief’s brother in a remote village in Kazakhstan. 25-year-old John (Aidyn Sakhaman) runs into money trouble living in a big city and is forced to retreat to a shack his mother used to live in ten years ago. He takes his teenaged […]
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  • Leonardo Valesi Valente
    July 6, 2015 at 7:41 am

    Too delicated and unforgettable.

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