Chelsea Alexandra
In recent years, there’s been a noticeable rise in films exploring absent parents, often as a reminder that parents are human too. For as much love as they try to show, they have their struggles and imperfections that sometimes get in the way. It is a hard pill to swallow realizing that a parent isn’t perfect. It can sometimes be hard to accept that when you are on the other side looking for love and they are unable to provide what should be so easy. Sometimes even in the “good moments”, it is difficult to appreciate it when you are constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. Over time, disappointment and hurt are easier to bear than hope.
Over time, a certain numbness sets in. That feeling becomes a survival mechanism, a way to keep moving forward. Eventually, you come to realize that the numbness is only hiding the pain and it has shaped the way we go through life. It becomes the foundation of how we accept love or struggle. In Alessandra Lacorazza’s In the Summers, this idea is explored with heartbreaking intimacy.
Spanning over a decade, In the Summers follows sisters, Eva (Luciana Elisa Quinonez, Allison Selinas and Sasha Calle) and Violeta (Dreya Castillo, Kimya Thais and Lio Mehiel) as they spend their summer with their father, Vicente (René Pérez Joglar also known as Residente). The film is split up into four chapters that capture the sister’s relationship with their father and even with each other.
In the Summers is quiet, yet deeply moving. Through intimate moments and quiet heartbreak, In the Summers explores the way childhood wounds will leave lasting scars that are carried into adulthood. In the Summers is at its most powerful in moments where nothing is spoken. It’s in these seemingly mundane moments that the film’s emotional resonance truly takes hold. The final chapter of In the Summers is where the film reveals the full weight of its emotional groundwork. It’s a film that understands that childhood wounds never truly heal but instead can shape the way we move through life. These lasting impressions affect the way we trust and seek connection.
Lacorazza’s direction is deeply personal, and it’s clear she approaches the story with a level of care and understanding that makes every moment feel lived-in. Visually, the film is stunning in its simplicity. The New Mexico landscape is both vast and isolating. Perhaps the most striking aspect of Lacorazza’s direction is her ability to balance pain with tenderness. Lacorazza allows the audience to witness the sisters evolve in a way that feels deeply organic. The seamless transitions between the different versions of Violeta and Eva make their emotional continuity even more powerful. The young actresses who play the younger versions bring a raw vulnerability to their roles. Each one is able to capture the innocence and confusion of children desperate for their father’s love. As the years progress, the older versions of Eva and Violeta embody the emotional scars left behind.
Every performance in In the Summers is a gut punch, knocking the air out of you with quiet, devastating precision. Joglar delivers a compelling performance as Vicente. Vicente is never set up to be outright bad. Throughout the film, it is understood that he does have a deep love for his daughters. However, he is personally struggling with his demons, and that tends to interfere. He is never villainized, but his actions are never excused. Another deeply raw performance comes from Calle, playing the older version of Eva. She embodies the ache of someone who spent years navigating a difficult relationship. It is a quiet performance from Calle, however it is powerful enough to move mountains. From her hesitant glance to how her body tenses up when having to face her father, it is a vulnerable performance and utterly heartbreaking. It is some of the best work seen by Calle thus far.
One of the most poignant aspects of In the Summers is its subtle yet deeply affecting queer narrative, woven seamlessly into the larger themes of family. Violeta’s journey is one of quiet realization. It’s shaped not only by her father’s erratic presence but also by the weight of growing up in an environment where she is never truly seen. The film doesn’t frame queerness as a dramatic revelation; it simply exists as part of Violeta’s experience.
There is no right resolution for mending a broken child-parent relationship. There is no right way to make peace with the past either, however, you do and learn to move on somehow. In the Summers understands this intimately: the damage that never fully fades. Lacorazza has directed a deeply moving coming-of-age story. It is a meditation of love and the bittersweetness that comes with loving an absent parent.
