“Summerland” Movie Review by Josh Davis
September 8, 2020 12:03 pm |
Lankyboy’s “Summerland,” not to be confused with the 2020 Gemma Arterton-starring period piece of the same name, is a contemporary coming-of-age movie set on the road to a mythical music festival.
The film stars Maddie Phillips (“Teenage Bounty Hunters”) as Stacey, Rory J. Saper (Hulu’s “Find Me in Paris”) as Oliver, and Chris Ball (Art Department credits for “Fargo” and “The Revenant”) as Bray. Ball also is listed as one of the movie’s writers.
In the opening scene, we watch someone scroll through Facebook photos of a pretty girl in her late teens, and then upload one of the pics to an online dating site. The camera pulls back for the reveal – Bray is posing as his friend Stacey and messaging a guy named Shawn (Dylan Playfair, “Letterkenny”), who thinks his real name is Victoria.
Shawn and “Victoria” plan to meet at the Summerland music festival, and Bray hopes his crush will overlook the fact that he’s not who he says he is.
Going with Bray to Summerland are Stacey, a rich hipster girl who looks like an Instagram model, and her boyfriend Oliver, a British stoner on a visa to attend high school.
They “borrow” a massive RV that belongs to Stacey’s parents and head on a long road trip through the western United States. Stops along the way include a drug-fueled camping trip and a brief sightseeing tour of San Fransisco.
“Lankyboy,” aka Owen Trevor, whose credits include nearly two dozen episodes of “Top Gear,” makes his feature film directorial debut here. The “Top Gear” experience is clear, as close to half of the movie takes place in a car, van or RV. There are many, many gorgeous panning shots of highways and interesting looking vehicles, and at times the movie feels like a series of music videos set to obscure indie rock or hip-hop songs – not that that’s entirely a bad thing.
All of the leads hold up well, but Ball is the standout here for his authentic portrayal of a young gay man who is determined to let his online connection with a stranger overcome the fact that Shawn thinks he’s an entirely different person – and gender. His optimistic naiveté should be familiar to anyone who ever drove a long way to meet someone for the first time.
Of course, part of growing up is learning that things don’t always work the way you had hoped, and things start to fall apart after Oliver – high as hell on a suitcase of drugs he bought on the road – steals the RV and makes a side trek to Las Vegas. Stacey and Bray learn that he’s also been keeping a secret, and the gang splits up after a fight.
Summerland, it turns out, is both a music festival and a metaphor for being stuck in the gooey amber of being young and kind of aimless, and Bray, Oliver and Stacey each learn a little about themselves despite the trip falling apart and changing course. Bray does eventually make it to the festival, but things also don’t go the way he planned.
Much of the weight and lessons of the film come together in a closing montage and some final, beautifully shot scenes of automobiles, and there’s even a post-credit scene at the very end to suggest what happens next.
It’s billed as a comedy, but “Summerland” isn’t at all a laugh riot. Instead, it’s an above average coming-of-age movie with three capable leads, plenty of picturesque cinematography, and some great music.
It likely won’t change your life like, say, actually going on a long road trip with close friends, but it’s an enjoyable enough way to spend 80 minutes.
PCL Rating: High Taste It
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: FRESH 🍅
Tags: pop culture leftovers, Summerland Lankyboy, Summerland Movie 2020, Summerland Movie Review
Categorised in: Movie Reviews
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