I think one of the hardest types of films to make are vignette ensemble films, the type of storytelling that Robert Altman perfected in films like Nashville and Short Cuts. More recent takes on this style, like Valentine’s Day and What to Expect When You’re Expecting, end up crammed with many characters who have little to do with the overall plot of the film. I thought very highly of Josh Stolberg‘s Conception, but besides that there are few ensemble vignette movies that can create an interesting story by weaving the lives of various characters together — probably because it’s a very difficult story structure to pull off. Because of that, I have no idea why producer/writer/director Max Weissberg would tackle the vignette movie Summertime as his first feature length film.
Summertime is about six New Yorkers, many of whom are identified by their role and not by name. For example, there is Julia, but referred to as “The Actress” (Lethia Nall) and The Waitress (Olivia Horton), who is also an actress but is less adept at it. As it turns out, both are vying for the same role in a movie by director Richard Tullin (Rob Hollander). The director “casts” both of them in a role, though it’s mainly to seduce them. The Actress hires The Painter (Michele Cesari) to build a war in her apartment so she can get a roommate to help pay the rent. Her boyfriends is the smug, pretentious writer Daniel (Eric Yves Garcia), who is one of those guys who will sit back and tell everyone how the world should be but not really do much to try and make the world a better place. Daniel has a run-in with his ex-girlfriend, The Photographer (Jenny Grace), who in turn has a run in with The Painter. And lastly, The Tour Guide (H.R. Britton), who is somewhat acquainted with The Actress, is looking for a new roommate and The Waitress is interested in moving in.
As you can see, for the most part these characters don’t have much to contribute to the plot except for a minor connection to the main narrative of The Director/The Actress/The Waitress conflict. Sure, it’s interesting how these characters’ lives intersect, but collectively they’re not really as interesting as writer/director Weissberg seems to think they are. I mean, when the only attributes of a character are that he’s a housepainter and is an immigrant he’s really not a character interesting enough to be a major character in a movie audiences will be enthralled by.
The one central plot that is actually interesting are the games the sleazy director plays with The Actress and The Waitress, and how The Actress’s sexual relationship with The Director affects her relationship with Daniel. So why did Weissberg spends so much time focusing on the superfluous characters? For example, there is a really awkward dancing scene between The Tour Guide and The Waitress about an hour into the film that I’m assuming is supposed to be seductive. The problem is, both of them are awful dancers (despite both claiming they are proficient dancers) which sucks any intended sexual energy out of the sequence. However, there is a clever contrasting scene that follows between The Actress and a guy who is interesting in becoming her roommate. He tries to flirt with her, but the clearly disinterested Actress wants nothing to do with him. But was it worth devoting 10 minutes of screentime to these sequences simply to make a clever contrast? Or is the length of the film simply being padded by these tangents? If so, then perhaps that should have been the first sign that something wasn’t right here.
The movie then makes a total abrupt shift to another genre in the last ten minutes (and it’s not an effective twist), and in the end only four characters matter to the central plot. So I ended up wondering what was the point of going off on these side tangents with characters that ended up having very little to do with the narrative, even just to show the main characters interacting with them. On top of this, the freestyle jazz drumming soundtrack also doesn’t really fit the film and really highlights the low-budget nature of the movie. On the other hand, credit goes to cinematographers Xiaosu Han and Andreas Thalhammer for some beautiful shots of New York City.
I don’t want to say that Weissberg isn’t an adept filmmaker because I don’t think this concept had potential in the first place. The concept isn’t novel, the characters aren’t interesting, and the only conflict that is intriguing is buried by scenes that have only the tiniest relation to it. Ultimately what I don’t understand is why Weissberg thought this was a story worth filming.
RATING: Whatever the intention was behind it, Summertime completely misses the mark (2.5/10).
Summertime will screen on Saturday, March 2 at 4:30 PM at Loews Village VII (66 3rd Avenue, New York, NY) in competition for the First Time Fest 2013.
Recent Comments