Alessandra Lacorraza Samudio’s semi-autobiographical film, “In the Summers,” is a portrait of sisters Eva and Violeta through glimpses of their summertime visits to their father in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The film takes place over four summers as they grow older, and we view them at three separate ages, each with its own set of actors portraying the sisters.
Eva and Violeta have a volatile, fraught relationship with their loving but alcoholic father, Vicente (Residente), and Samudio’s script is considerate of the complexity of its patriarchal figure. It absolutely casts his flaws in damning light, but also has sympathy and understanding for the ideas of his intentions vs impact. It doesn’t excuse the sharp moments of tension and dread that result from his actions, which Samudio’s direction excellently portrays in moments that cause you to hold your breath, lean away from the screen, and shrink within yourself. However, it also doesn’t discount sequences of loving tenderness, excitement, and paternal care that warm your heart and pull at the corners of your lips. The film’s emotional core relies on this juxtaposition, and it’s one that always feels completely genuine.
“In the Summers” doesn’t take melodramatic shortcuts to implore you to care. Instead, it doles out fearless realism that has you constantly weighing the often disparate impacts of the moral ideals you know and the emotional consequences you feel. Samudio’s script deftly manages the symbiosis of parent-child influence despite the fact that we are only afforded fractions of the characters’ lives. It’s a testament to the weight these summers carry and the power of the relationships we may often desire to underestimate.
However, as much as we see Vicente’s influence on his daughters, for better or worse, we also see how their bond develops as they age. Beautiful quotidian moments of sisterhood, like cutting each other’s hair in the bathroom, to the comfort of solidarity in moments of tension are executed with love and grace throughout the entire film. The sentimentality of sisterhood, of complete and familiar empathy, is cherished in Samudio’s screenplay.
The standout performance of “In the Summers” is Residente, in his acting debut, as Vicente. His performance is a prime prototype for the effect of what is said vs. what is seen. There is no doubt that Vicente loves his daughters, but equally, it is also certain that he’s forcing a hardened hand of tyrannical emotional influence over them. Whether it’s his desperately shifty eyes, seeming to always be in desperate search of clarity and control, or moments of wordless hesitation as he battles his opposing conscience and influence, Residente masters Vicente’s essence of dichotomies.
As we watch Eva and Violeta grow into themselves, seeing both the ways they assert their power and the fallbacks they inherited from their father, “In the Summers” propositions you to reckon with your own coming-of-age. The sisterly bonds are bought at every age but it’s the older dynamic of Lio Mehiel as Violet and Sasha Calle as Eva that carry the greatest weight. Though its 98 minute runtime and four chapter format may lead you to desire greater exploration into each stage of the daughters, “In the Summers” places us in the position of Vicente. We only learn about them as he does. We are not given more, and this restraint is exactly what makes the film’s pathos land so poignantly.
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