Sometimes, as an entertainment journalist with a bit of a readership, you just feel the urge to advocate for a particular project. You want everyone possible to see a gem of a film, read a book, or listen to that CD that’s never had much of a distribution network to speak of, even if that hidden jewel has been out for a few years.
Actor Robert Carlyle (currently starring in Once Upon a Time as Rumpelstiltskin) has a long history of making little, low-budget, but incredibly well-made films. (The Full Monty, featuring Carlyle’s breakout performance as Gaz began as one of those little films).
Lamenting a couple of years ago about the state of independent film in the U.K., Carlyle noted the difficulty of finance and distribution for the well-made, low-budget fare that has been always been his passion. Case in point is the understated 2008 British film Summer, a wonderful, gorgeously shot and flawlessly-acted character study, that, as Carlyle has noted, has only been seen by a handful of people. Not even available on DVD in the North America, it is a terrible shame that the movie has been seen by so few.
Director Kenneth Glenaan’s quiet and introspective film is the story of friendship, guilt, the costs of terrible childhood mistakes, and ultimately redemption. The film unfolds through Shaun’s (Carlyle) sad, soulful eyes as we learn why he has become the caregiver of his childhood best friend, the bitter, wheelchair-bound Daz (Steve Evets). Sharing a flat in run down working class area along with Daz’s teenage son Daniel (Michael Socha), they have nothing to live on by Daz’s disability check and Shaun’s earnings as a petrol station clerk.
When we meet them, Daz is dying of liver cirrhosis and acute kidney failure with only weeks to live. Shaun attends to Daz’s many needs, from cleaning house to bathing him; he also looks after Daniel, trying to keep him out of trouble.
How Shaun and Daz get to this place in their lives is revealed as Shaun reflects on life and on the terrible mistakes of youth that cost him so much. It is a lifetime of regret, played out through flashbacks of Shaun’s best—and most tragic—summer as a teen. We catch him gazing through the years—and one summer in particular—as if through a picture window, longing to go back, but stuck here on the other side.
As the movie unfolds often through Shaun’s memories of his youth, you understand the heartbreaking toll one mistake can take on the lives of two men. But it is not only their error.
Article comments
1 - Inalgebra
This really is a wonderfully made and acted film, I hope more people get to see it. It was on BBC TV here recently and I was very disappointed that they put it on after midnight as I'd have expected the BBC as a publically funded channel to show more support of UK Independant film.
2 - Barbara Barnett
I really loved this film. I suppose with all the psychotic baddies Carlyle has played, I've really mainly enjoyed his more conflicted/tormented characters that he has done so superbly over his career. Summer is very close to the top of my favorite RC roles.