"I will give Chasing Summer this: there's something inherently interesting about its unexpected union of two opposite forces. On one side there's Josephine Decker, an unusual film-maker whose genre-challenging work spans experimental theater (2019's Madeline's Madeline), claustrophobic psychodrama (2020's perversely thrilling, woefully underseen Shirley) and magical realism (the 2022 YA grief flick The Sky Is Everywhere). On the other, comedian Iliza Shlesinger, whose brand of fast-paced, ribald, sometimes hilarious (and sometimes too gender-essentialist) standup"
"I can't imagine many saw the former choosing to direct Chasing Summer, a Hallmark-esque comedy written by and starring the latter. Theoretically, the collision should generate sparks. It does, though I can't imagine in the way the odd couple intended. The 98-minute film, which premiered this week at Sundance, is one of the most bizarre combinations of director and material I've ever seen, more curious car crash than collaboration."
"Shlesinger's Jamie is a dubious protagonist to begin with, a 38-year-old woman with no characterization other than works in disaster relief (as in: works, not cares about, disaster relief). Jamie's opening thunder about being accepted to a prestigious disaster relief program in Jakarta (?) is quickly stolen by her boyfriend of five years, who unceremoniously dumps her in an absurd scene that belongs in a wellness culture satire the first of many jarring tonal swings."
Chasing Summer pairs experimental director Josephine Decker with comedian Iliza Shlesinger in a Hallmark-esque comedy that premiered at Sundance. The 98-minute film creates an unexpected collision between Decker's attunement to inner turmoil and Shlesinger's fast-paced, ribald persona. The result reads as a curious car crash rather than a seamless collaboration, producing moments of sensitivity and unreality amid razor-thin characters and a boilerplate setup. The protagonist Jamie is sketched thinly as a 38-year-old disaster-relief worker whose acceptance to a program in Jakarta is overshadowed by an abrupt breakup and a return to her Texas childhood home, prompting jarring tonal swings.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]