“The Summer” captures the essence of loving fondly and youthful energy. In this section, Yoon Ah-young is looking back at her earlier love Soo-I whose character is played by Song Ha-rim. It is clear from the beginning that their character traits are quite different than one another’s. Soo-I has plans of pursuing a career in soccer while on the other hand, Lee-Kyeong is rather reserved and obedient. Although they are in the stages of developing feelings for one another, Lee-Kyeong feels intimidated while Soo-I feels shy and doesn’t say much. Despite these hiccups, the couple is doing their best to enjoy the summers in the countryside. Their final years of high school are being spent fantasizing about a life together after moving to Seoul.
But once they turn 20, their attention shifts towards the beautiful city Seoul only to then realize that the relationships they thought were strong, are seemingly drifting apart and losing their touch. More problems arise between Lee Kyeong’s college admission and Soo i’s part-time jobs. Their friend circles begin to differ from one another, changing everything. Their fragile bond ends up stretching into something incomprehensible until one day, they both find themselves unable to take it any further.
At first glance, “The Summer” is suggestive of the Japanese works in the earlier years. The film spans in the early 2000s and stories a female romance fondly similar to Nana (2006-2007). In this romance, the narrator looks back warmly on the other half in the dual relationship. Additionally, just like the film “The Summer”, Also, the works such as 5 Centimeters per Second and The Garden of Words shares the similar theme as the movie. All of these movies share the gentle yet overwhelming feeling of nostalgia of two people crossing each other. And with regard to their dedication to showcasing the charm of their cities, Han Ji-won and Shinkai are no different. Likewise, Shinkai shows accurately the Shinjuku Gyoen park while Han Ji-won decorates her picture with enough recognizable streets and subway stations of Seoul. Thus, ‘The Summer’ appears to be as much a tribute to the tingle of young love as it is to the city of Seoul.
Nonetheless, this is where the artistic scope of Han Ji-won’s projection differs greatly from that of her Japanese predecessors. Unlike mealy putting the thoughts, “What could have been?“ or ” What went wrong into the mix to conjoin “What went wrong”, Ji-won points out the situations where the problem was clear.
In fact, there is more than one misunderstanding in the examples provided above, “The Summer” on the other hand, is able to depict its sexual tension fully. For the protagonists who still seem to epitain some level of bisexuality in Lee-Kyeong, she never contemplates which sex she would fanc. She does not waver around h conversations about fate for she is mostly self-agential. Like Han Ji-won’s characters, these do not also waver in the direction of society; each of them is so able to be independent.
For a coming-of-age, queer film, this is actually quite a refreshing watch and that is the goal. There is no main character who goes around looking for someone to fall in love with like in Call me by your Name or someone who has been bullied, but there are many other flights of fancies of a young heart. As for Lee-Kyeong, homosexual attraction is merely a matter of fact, at least. For her, as it is for everyone her age, the biggest question is what to do with the insatiable desire for more So Lee-Kyeong does not look for women, she looks for model friends, lovers, and even partners while trying to keep her current one away.
Should there be any possibility of streaming in future, ”The Summer” should be good for all chilly nights.
The TV-movie “The Summer” gets a swift treatment with a running time of just 88 minutes. If anything, it’ll be a treat if it gets a more medium run – but that may just pave the way for yet another future feature by Han Ji-won.
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