In the Summers Review: Harsh Realities Test a Fractured Family’s Limits

In her thoughtful debut feature In the Summers, director Alessandra Lacorazza offers an intimate look at the complex bonds between fathers and daughters. Structured in four chapters over the course of a decade, the film charts the fragile relationship between part-time dad Vicente and his two girls, Violeta and Eva. We witness the joys and tensions of their summer reunions in New Mexico, as youthful possibility gives way to resentment over Vicente’s flaws. Yet glimmers of hope remain that this fractured family can somehow mend.

With empathy and care, newcomer Lacorazza examines how our most painful childhood memories leave indelible marks. She’s aided by Puerto Rican hip hop star René Pérez Joglar, delivering a breakthrough performance as the charismatic but troubled Vicente grasping for connection. Together, they’ve crafted an understated gem about the ripples spanning generations when parents fall short. By honing an observational eye and letting gripping moments unfold, Lacorazza announces herself as a director to watch.

Reunions Full of Promise and Heartache

In the opening chapter, we’re introduced to devoted dad Vicente, eagerly awaiting his daughters Violeta and Eva at the local New Mexico airport. It’s been awhile since he’s seen the girls, now grade schoolers brimming with curiosity. Vicente delights in giving them a taste of his childhood home, sharing treasured stories and whipping up homemade treats. He’s inherited his mother’s charming Spanish cottage, and the quaint house becomes a backdrop for blissful bonding over lazy pool days and late nights stargazing.

But by the second reunion some years later, hairline fractures in this idyllic vision emerge. Vicente seems distracted, struggling to recall basic details about his brooding teenagers’ lives. Glimpses of his alcoholism and temper flareups explain their guardedness. Still seeking connection, little Eva endures her dad’s callous remarks while the defiant Violeta finds solace in family friend Carmen, whose self-assurance inspires her to embrace her own queer identity.

The wounds deepen bitterly in the aftermath of a traumatic accident during year two. Eva returns solo the next summer, her sunglasses shielding more than the desert glare. Vicente can barely stand to face this reminder of his failures amidst the clutter and debris revealing his spiral. His new baby brings renewal, but no forgiveness from Eva even as his patient girlfriend Yenny tries to broker peace.

By the fourth reunion, a newly grounded Vicente hopes beyond hope for a fresh page with adult Violeta and Eva. But pleasantries can’t paper over a childhood of damage. The sisters maintain their distance, still scraping together their patience and setting firm boundaries around the dad they crave to trust. Can this family discover in each other glimmers of the people they once dreamt they could be? The bittersweet question haunts as Lacorazza closes this tender chapter on their journey.

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Raw Honesty on the Failings of Fatherhood

At its core, In the Summers offers an emotionally authentic exploration of fractured bonds between fathers and children. Lacorazza bravely tackles the messy realities of forgiveness that time alone can’t heal. Flawed dad Vicente earns our empathy even as his demons rupture the family he fights to hold together each summer.

The film lays bare how parents’ unresolved issues reverberate across generations. Vicente struggles to overcome the cycles of alcoholism and neglect that now jeopardize his own daughters. As the swimming pool decays from a place of playtime laughter to an abandoned breeding ground for mosquitos, so too do the sisters’ initially rosy memories sour.

Yet for all the pain in their halting reconciliation attempts, glints of indestructible love persist. The sisters cling to fading recollections of stargazing excursions and dad’s lame jokes, signs that mutual understanding wasn’t always out of reach. Lacorazza leaves unanswered whether their tentative truce will last. Still, she offers a flicker of hope that peaceful resolution lives in the trying.

The director also sensitively explores identity struggles, as Violeta confronts internalized shame surrounding her emergent queer desires. Lacorazza depicts a moving arc towards embracing one’s full self amidst complicated social webs. Her compassionate lens helps us make sense of seemingly contradictory emotions swirling within this family anchored by shared history yet strained by divergent needs.

Haunting Images Carry Emotional Punch

Lacorazza establishes a contemplative pace attuned to quiet revelatory moments, letting scenes breathe to build palpable awkwardness. Her compassionate script and direction coax unaffected performances from her talented ensemble. As the anchor, Joglar disappears movingly into Vicente, conveying equal parts macho charm and fragile insecurity. We ache as his initial exuberance gives way to detachment and self-pity in a powerful debut screen performance.

But the young actors embodying his daughters deserve equal praise for channeling this complex emotional terrain. Salinas and Thais shine during the second summer as teen Eva and Violeta, injecting their gestures with astonishing nuance revealing flickers of lingering affection amidst heartache. We watch them grow before our eyes into Mehiel and Calle’s memorable wounded adults haunted by memory’s grip.

Beyond the acting, Mejía’s thoughtful lensing heightens the film’s mood as the desert landscapes first suggest limitless possibility then isolate Eva tragically alone. Striking tableaux of the evolving household altars bookmark summers with tangible details evoking the passage of childhood. And Lacorazza shows Spielbergian skill directing her child stars, trailing patiently behind as they navigate the house that represents both sanctuary and reminder of Vicente’s limitations as a parent.

In the Summers announces a host of exciting new talents while showcasing an assured hand crafting tender family chronicles. Lacorazza proves herself an expert guide through these emotional cross-currents around regret, healing, and the power of unconditional love.

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A Touchstone for Shifting Family Paradigms

In subtle ways, In the Summers taps into several significant cultural dialogues bubbling beneath the surface of its intimate character drama. As Lacorazza traces the rifts between Vicente and his daughters, she quielty complicates assumptions around “traditional” families and gender roles.

On one level, the film depicts recognizable current realities – children split between divorced parents, single fathers balancing work and childcare, multi-generational households. But the director also embraces modern family structures still gaining mainstream visibility, like Carmen’s proudly queer identity. Lacorazza’s matter-of-fact presentation aligns with recent strides in LGBTQ acceptance.

Her choice to center Vicente as the well-intentioned but flawed heart of the narrative also pushes against ingrained stereotypes of distant or cold fathers unable to express affection. Nuanced portrayals like these help expand our collective understanding of the emotional complexities within men.

Ultimately, as it intimately excavates the estrangement between one father and his daughters, In the Summers transcends its specificity to offer a broader mirror on the diversity of parental roles today. It serves as a quiet yet compelling call for compassion and openness as we navigate this shift towards new family paradigms rooted not in perfection but in forgiveness and love.

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Stunning Debut Full of Promise

Powered by magnetic performances and patient storytelling, In the Summers marks an auspicious first feature for Alessandra Lacorazza. While the loose narrative structure and languid pace won’t appeal to all tastes, there’s no denying this newcomer’s gifts for wringing affecting moments from the truth of flawed yet loving relationships.

In gazing with compassion at a family struggling to reconnect despite old wounds, Lacorazza establishes herself as a director attuned to emotional complexity. She proves equally adept at eliciting guileless charm from child actors as steely conviction from her anchored leads. This rare talent for directing performers promises even richer character studies to come.

As we leave Violeta and Eva on the precipice between past hurt and future healing, we recognize ourselves and our own missteps in their journey. By implicating the viewer in hopes for this family’s reconciliation, Lacorazza touches the universality binding our human stories across generations. If she continues crafting such insightful melodramas about the resilience of love, we’ll surely be eagerly awaiting for many summers still to unfold.