Last Summer (2013)

Hello, my friends, old and new! There was a different story scheduled for today, but then I watched this film - and it really resonated with me. It is not often that a film immerses you in its reality and persuades you of its truth. 2013's Last Summer, a no-budget 70-minute film that takes place in rural Arkansas in its entirety, did... (The discussion includes spoilers, so, if you're spoiler-averse, watch the movie found at the bottom of the page and read later.)

"You're not dumb," Luke was told by his mother when he was a young boy. "You're just a slow learner." His mother long dead, Luke is now in summer school and his kindly teacher warns him "You don't want to have to go back and re-do another year." When she asks him about his summer, he responds with "Spending a lot of time with Jonah," "my boyfriend", he clarifies - and it comes out perfectly naturally - no defiance, no shame, just a matter-of-fact acceptance of his situation and his feelings.

When the teacher asks, "How long you been together?", his answer is "Forever. We've known each other since we were four." The obligatory question "Your families know?" follows, to which he answers "More or less. Nobody really talks about it." "And they're fine with it?" she presses on. "Why wouldn't they be?", again, as if it's the most natural thing. Then and there, I knew that the movie would be special.

Luke admires Jonah: "He's gifted." "He's good at everything." Jonah, an adopted child, feels the same: "The truth is, I idolize him. I think he's perfect. I think I would give up everything for Luke."

Director Mark Thiedeman captures moments where tactile images mirror the boys' emotions - their sneakers rubbing together, the way they grasp hands or even eat sandwiches. Ambient sounds - birds, rain, and a train whistle - heighten the emotions between the boys, as do light, shadows, and reflections. Jonah and Luke express their sentiments about love and each other in ways that truly resonate in this extraordinary, beautifully realized film.

So, what moves the plot forward? A simple and oh-so-common fact, in Jonah's words, "Some people feel so comfortable in one place, and others feel trapped." Luke feels comfortable in their small town. Jonah feels trapped. He's going away to college in the fall. This is their last summer together...

Yet, Jonah is afraid: afraid of losing Luke and afraid of this radical change in his life. "Please tell me not to go," he desperately begs Luke. The latter refuses to give in. He knows that his lover's happiness waits for him elsewhere - and he will not stand in the way of his lover's happiness. Luke's final words in the film are narrated, for our sake, and they're revelatory:

"Jonah read me a line from a book he was reading. It said, 'Happiness serves little purpose, except that it makes unhappiness possible.' I once asked my dad how you know you've found the right person, and he said, 'You just know. You find someone you don't mind being around, going places with, watching a movie, sleeping next to... Someone who isn't like you, someone who makes you better, who you forgive for being different, or not seeing the world the way you see it.'"

He continues: "We'll try, see if things can last. But things don't last. He'll meet other people, much more interesting than me. And they'll love him." These are the film's final words and by the end of this speech my eyes were filling up...

The film is a labor of love for writer-director-editor-co-producer Mark Thiedeman - and this being only his second feature film - his work is remarkable. The film's beautiful soundtrack contains melodies by Beethoven and Schumann, while I was also impressed by David Goodman's evocative cinematography. Deb Lewis and Roben R. Sullivant are fine as Luke's teacher and Jonah's mother respectively, while Sean Rose paints a very good picture of the conflicted Jonah. But it's Samuel Pettit, as Luke, who steals the show. Heis Luke - and he manages to portray emotions even beyond those that exist in the screenplay.

This lovely, little film won Mark Thiedeman the best director prize at the Little Rock Film Festival. It received great reviews, yet no distributor picked it up. It's such a shame that this great film was only seen at festivals...

Here's an enthusiastic review by Indiewire's Ryan Lattanzio: "Heavy on visuals with a screenplay that could probably fill mere pages, Last Summer hypnotizes you with its sleepy lull as director Thiedeman locates emotions in objects, entangled body parts and bucolic scenery rather than character, dialogue, and drama. Smeared with impressionistic imagery, droplets of water trickling down window panes and uncomfortable facial close-ups, the film resembles a collection of old dusty Polaroids. The influence of Terrence Malick or early Lynne Ramsay can be felt."

"Light on traditional narrative machinery, this could have been a short film. But its prolonged spell, deeply felt long after the film is over, would not have been as effective. Last Summer sustains that pit-in-the-stomach feeling throughout, and the anxiousness and uncertainty of being so young and so small and not knowing where you're going. This is a sweet surprise."

Here's the film's official trailer:

This is the whole film: