In the Summers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

In the Summers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 11, 2025

Relationships with parents are more often than not at least intermittently fraught, and while the recently reviewed All of Us Strangers may have suggested that the death of a parent (or both) is an obviously emotionally unsettling experience, it might be jokingly stated that In the Summers makes an argument that a living parent can cause just as much upheaval. In the Summers is a deliberately "small" film, a callback to indie efforts from the days of yore, and here offering the feature writing and directing debut of Lacorazza Samudio, who based the unavoidably melancholic tale at least in part on her own childhood, where she and her sister would have summer visits with their estranged father in Colombia. Here, the Dad is Vicente (René Pérez Joglar, whom music fans may recognize under his alias Residente and/or Resīdɛntə), who is shown "hosting" his two daughters Eva (played by Luciana Elisa Quinonez, Allison Salinas and Sasha Calle at various ages) and Violeta (similarly played by Dreya Renae Castillo, Kimaya Thais Limòn and Lío Mehiel) during summer vacation over the course of many years, with the film being split into probably unnecessarily announced "chapters" documenting the ebb and flow of the girls' interactions with Vicente, who it is shown virtually from the get go has some addiction issues.

There's some very smart writing on tap in this piece, and some of it does not necessarily even include dialogue. When the rather young girls are introduced in the film's first vignette, they may still be a bit at odds with their long unseen father, but they're at least overjoyed at the relative luxury of the home in New Mexico he's inherited from his late mother, which has a gorgeous pool in the backyard that instantly captures the girls' attention. When the film segues forward to its next timeframe, however, while there are certainly spoken elements delineating the devolution of Vicente, there's also the alarming visual representation of his "downfall" courtesy of a now unkempt domicile and a seriously grody looking pool. The film has already started to explore some of the roiling interrelationships, not limited only to each girl's interactions with Vicente, but probably just as importantly with each other.

If Samudio kind of hints at the same restorative "power of love" mentioned in the All of Us Strangers Blu-ray review (with or without Frankie Goes to Hollywood), I'm not quite sure she's able to fully integrate some of the character beats she gives the girls in particular as they reach early adulthood. That may make the last third or so of the film feel a little labored and in some ways perhaps not completely clear in terms of how these two very different daughters have reconciled (or not) with Vicente. Still, there is an honesty to the emotions portrayed here that should certainly resonate with many, whether or not they've had to deal with a parent battling various "demons".

In the Summers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

In the Summers is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Music Box Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.65:1. The closing credits roll features a helpful "captured with Alexa 35", but as of the writing of this review the IMDb does not specify the resolution of the DI. This is a really appealing looking presentation with generally excellent fine detail levels across the board, often buoyed by the frequent use of close-ups of faces in particular. The palette is also very nicely suffused and some of the gorgeous intermediary tones seen in some of the outdoor material in particular pops with considerable authority. There are a few troublesome moments, including a perhaps deliberately hazy vignette documenting a horrifying car crash. This segment also has a more than noticeable moment of banding against a somewhat purplish background.

In the Summers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

In the Summers is one of the few films I can remember which begins with a "note" from its director stating that the film segues between English and Spanish and that there are no subtitles by design. That said, this film offers its multilingual approach with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 options, and it should be stated that the bulk of the dialogue is in English. Surround activity is nicely handled throughout, courtesy of both well designed ambient environmental effects but also an extremely energetic score by Eduardo Cabra. Dialogue (in either/both English and Spanish) is cleanly and clearly rendered throughout. For the wary, the disc does offer optional English and Spanish subtitles.

In the Summers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Feature Audio Commentary with Director Alessandra Lacorazza also features a number of the crew like editor Adam Dicterow and cinematographer Alejandro Mejía joining her for the different "chapters" in the film.


• Sundance Meet the Artist (HD; 1:18) is a brief introduction to the film by Alessandra Lacorazza.


• Making a Sundance Gem (HD; 26:48) is a Collider interview from the festival featuring the principal cast and Lacorazza.


• Filmmaker Q & A (HD; 19:04) is from the New York City premiere and features Lacorazza and Pérez Joglar.


• More Than a Movie (HD; 44:19) is basically an audio supplement of a podcast hosted by Alex Fumero speaking with Lacorazza and Pérez Joglar.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 7:37)


• Bloopers (HD; 2:33)


• Mami (HD; 11:04) is a short film by Lacorazza which may ironically suggest that mothers are at least as problematic as fathers.


• Image Gallery (HD)


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:29)

In the Summers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is an impressive debut by Lacorazza, and if all the elements don't fall perfectly into place, there's an undeniable emotional impact the film delivers. Technical merits are solid and the supplements informative and enjoyable. Recommended.