‘Summer in the Shade’ Review
Stars: Niamh Walter, Nyobi Hendry, Rebecca Palmer, Zaqi Ismail, Fiona Gillies, Helen Masters, Joe Welch | Written by Isobel Boyce | Directed by Alice Millar
Described as a psychological thriller, Summer in the Shade tells the tale of a young girl at the time she is transitioning from child to woman and the difficulties she has with this.
Summer in the Shade’s main issue for me is what kind of film it is. As I said above, the director describes it as a psychological thriller but that suggests something at least a bit more fast-paced than this is. The pace is slower and more heavily focused on the coming of age story of Grace. This is no bad thing though, although the film then does seem unsure whether it wants to go down the horror path or not. It shows lots of hints at this but never seems to want to pull the trigger.
But that’s enough of the negatives because there are plenty of positives here too. There are of course plenty of coming-of-age dramas out there, and it’s one of my personal favourite subgenres. But Summer in the Shade doesn’t feel like a copy of any of them and brings something a bit different, even if it is that mix of genres and styles. I would have loved them to go down that horror path a little more but it could have easily become a clichéd teen horror if it did choose to. I think it actually became more interesting by focusing on the more grounded story.
The cast, especially the two young leads are really good. You would have no idea based on these performances that, Niamh Walter (as Grace) and Nyobi Hendry (as Asta) have very little acting experience. They both play their roles with confidence and they show good chemistry as best friends. Walter in particular has quite a complex role at times, as Grace is fighting lots of demons but all as a twelve year old. The script does well not to over-dramatize things while still making them important and real.
There’s lots of stories that kind of intertwine without getting too confusing or losing focus on Grace’s story. You have Asta’s mother (played by Rebecca Palmer) who has plenty of her own problems. She doesn’t seem like the best parent in the world when she lets a complete stranger into their home with an eleven and twelve year old there. That stranger, Sid (played by Zaqi Ismail) is an interesting character and not how I envisioned him to be played out but I would have maybe liked to have seen more of his story. And of course Grace, who has her own problems with her parents and now growing up and those difficulties.
These events are mostly handled well, although there is a couple of slightly uncomfortable scenes, one in particular when Grace runs away and visits the local pub. This is meant to have that dark, uncomfortable tone to it though. A lot of Summer in the Shade’s best moments are because of the dark undercurrent but it never really fulfils it’s potential with that bleakness. I felt like the sinister atmosphere that stayed throughout much of the movie, didn’t come to the forefront enough, while the kind of abrupt ending didn’t help (I guess ‘leaving the audience wanting more could be classed as a good thing here).
There’s lots to talk about with the movie though and that’s nearly always a good thing. There are people that will get more from this than me and people that will relate to a lot of what Grace is dealing with. The script is always intriguing and with the strong performances on top, this is a coming-of-age drama I can recommend.
