Summering (2022)
Directed by James Ponsoldt
Four best friends, on the brink of starting middle school, realize their lives are about to change forever. So on the last weekend of summer, they set out to make the most of it. Nothing could prepare them, though, for the startling discovery they make while revisiting one of their favorite haunts.
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What critics compared Summering to
Right down to a stolen pistol shoved in a backpack, James Ponsoldt’s unhurried, sun-kissed coming-of-age drama plays as an all-female homage to Rob Reiner’s “Stand By Me” — a reference that won’t mean much to the pre-teen girls at whom it’s aimed, but may make some of their parents a little misty-eyed.
It’s this generation's female “Stand by Me,” right down to the discovery of a dead body, just not as poignant or memorable.
It amounts to a modern retelling of Stand By Me , with lower stakes, less ground to cover, and a wild lack of logic.
Of course, the obvious, hit-you-over-the-head answer is Rob Reiner's 1986 adaption of a Stephen King novella, The Body, called "Stand By Me." But, that one sentence is the only direct similarity to the 80s classic.
With the wispiness, wistfulness, and meandering nature of a “summer that changed everything” coming-of-age film, director James Ponsoldt (2013’s “The Spectacular Now”) very much evokes those feelings in “Summering.”
In its best moments, his sixth feature fleetingly recalls the mellow, gently melancholic pleasures of Ponsoldt works like “The Spectacular Now” and “The End of the Tour,” though all too often, it feels like the youthful focus of his latest comes with a broader, flimsier approach to character and storytelling.
Summering - James Ponsoldt has made some very good films, including The Spectacular Now and The End of the Tour .
Cowriter (with Benjamin Percy)/director James Ponsoldt ("The Spectacular Now," "The Circle") noticed that most of the books and movies he enjoyed featured only male protagonists and became determined to create something different for his daughter.
James Ponsoldt has made several very good films, including The Spectacular Now and The End of the Tour .