101 min
7.4
2020
Belgium
Alexis is sixteen. He just graduated from school and does not know what to do next: develop his literary talent on his teacher's advice, or get his head out of the clouds and get a job right away. He only has a short summer vacation to think, but even it begins poorly: the character almost dies in a storm. He is saved by David – he is older and cooler, wears an earring in his ear, rides a motorcycle, and works in the family shop after his father's death. First, the guys become friends, later – colleagues and lovers.
Once David asks Alexis to promise that the other will definitely dance on his grave if one of them dies. He reluctantly makes a promise, without the second thought that he will have to dance very soon.
Throughout the Summer of 85, the viewer is waiting for some kind of trick or postmodern twist, but it never comes. Surprisingly, everything is exactly as the synopsis says: love, death, dancing on the grave.
It's all about the mystery and, at the same time, the simplicity of the structure of any organism, where summer is a small life. All stories about these three months (in this case, six weeks) of warmth and sleepless nights have the magic of vacuum space. The whole world narrows down to the beach and three streets, a couple of people, an amusement park and the reflections of sunbeams on a motorcycle helmet, and the level of drama accelerates to the universal mysteries of the universe in seconds.
Summer of 85 is a warm teenage melodrama and a personal movie about growing up. Such an overly stereotyped and sentimental, but still charming film that will surely find its audience.
SWITCH. wrote:
