Comedy

Drama

Music

Summertime

Little Ugly

Good Deed Entertainment

United States of America

English

Austin Antoine

Marquesha Babers

Bryce Banks

Bene't Benton

Amaya Blankenship

Caedmon Branch

Mila Cuda

Gabriela de Luna

Joel Dupont

Walter Finnie Jr.

Alyssa Kim

Gordon Ip

Maia Mayor

Anna Osuna

Sun Park

Sophia Thomas

Tyris Winter

Gihee Hong

Kelly Marie Tran

Paolina Acuña-González

Sean Wang

Taylor Brusky

Carlos López Estrada

Kimberly Stuckwisch

Jeffrey Soros

Alisa Tager

Simon Horsman

Kat Barnette

Andrew Blau

Neil Garvey

Vero Kompalic

Diane Luby Lane

Patrick Murray

John W. Snyder

John Schmidt

Jonathan Melin

Karmen Leech

John Williams

Tyler Jensen

Nelson DeCastro

Elise Hannaford

Brianna Murphy

Kai Stamps

Adam Wyatt Tate

Sarah Balboa

Marc Kelly

Joseph Salcedo

Andy Hay

Jeff Dotson

Vitaly Verlov

Casey Adams

Nito Larioza

Danny Sosa

Brandy Tannahill

Nicholas Hasson

David Hunter

Matthew Llewellyn

Lauren Mikus

Olivia Crist

Betty Austin

Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots

In 2018, the film world was introduced to exciting new director Carlos López Estrada and his best-of-the-year movie, “Blindspotting.” Expectations for filmmakers as talented as Estrada can feel insurmountable, but “Summertime,” his sophomore feature film, is a wildly successful storytelling experiment of performance art and spoken word poetry. On the surface it sounds like an arduous undertaking, but somehow it turns out to be the epitome of indie cinema: an ego-less artistic collaboration with zero phoniness.

Over the course of a summer day in Los Angeles, the lives of 25 teenagers intersect. There isn’t much plot to speak of, as a loose narrative weaves all of the stories together. The story is told through spoken-word poetry, all written and performed by the amateur cast (including Tyris Winter, Marquesha Babers, Mila Cuda, Austin Antoine, Gordon Ip, Maia Mayor, and Walter Finnie Jr.). These aren’t actors but artists, and the film a vehicle to share their authentic voices.

The cast is appealing with big personalities and even bigger lyrical talents, and their poems are deeply rooted in place and experience. These diverse young artists are all from and live in Los Angeles, and they offer an unfiltered, unpolished, and raw perspective that comes from the soul. It’s deeply meaningful how they interconnect art with their city, and their vibrant voices are ones that the world needs to hear.

Surprisingly, the movie flows seamlessly and doesn’t feel gimmicky (despite a choppy start and a brief lag in the middle). This experiment could’ve (and likely should’ve) gone the wrong way fast, but somehow all the pieces come together and the cast and crew manages to pull it off. It’s a winning combination of a visionary director paired with young artists speaking their truth, and the film’s flaws make it all the more powerful.

The film unmasks the impassioned cries of hope and frustration from a young generation through their urban poetry, and it’s as inspiring as it is complicated. “Summertime” is what effective art is all about.

SUMMERTIME (2021) Official Trailer HD - From the Director of Raya and the Last Dragon

SUMMERTIME (2021) Official Trailer HD - From the Director of Blindspotting

Best Movies

Summertime

Cast & Crew

Videos

Cast

Austin Antoine

Marquesha Babers

Bryce Banks

Bene't Benton

Amaya Blankenship

Caedmon Branch

Mila Cuda

Gabriela de Luna

Joel Dupont

Walter Finnie Jr.

Box office

More Like This

Four Rooms

Dog Years

Strange Days

Barton Fink

Beverly Hills Cop III

The Million Dollar Hotel

Brother

Night on Earth