Director: Lankyboy
Writer: Chris Ball, Dylan Griffiths, Kurtis David Harder, Noah Kentis (Screenplay)
Starring: Maddie Phillips, Dylan Playfair, Rory J Saper, Noah Grossman, Kyle McCachen
Plot: Summerland is a road trip comedy that follows Bray, a teenager who poses as a girl on an online dating website. He falls for a guy who he believes is in the closet. Bray and his best friend Oliver plan a trip to SUMMERLAND, a music festival to meet him. The only problem? Bray is pretending to be his best friends girlfriend, who ends up coming on the trip with them.
Runtime: 1 Hour 20 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Summerland starts as three friends, Bray (Ball), Oliver (Saper) and Stacey (Phillips) look to have one last road trip to a music festival for the last time before they go their sperate ways after school, Bray has arranged to meet a guy there, Shawn, who believes that Bray is Victoria, or Stacey, while Oliver and Stacey must make the big decision about their relationship and whether they can handle the long distance it will give them.
Thoughts on Summerland
Characters – Bray is a gay teenager, he has struggled to find a relationship and is looking forward to going away to college to let himself discover more, he has tried to start a relationship over a dating site, pretending to be his best friend’s girlfriend and now the adventure is his chance to meet him in person. Oliver is Bray’s best friend, he is about to return to England though, which sees him needing to find the right time to tell Stacey, he is considered more of a flake between the friends, doing silly things which can cause more problems for himself. Stacey is the girlfriend that isn’t sure what will happen next in her life, preparing to start a life with Oliver even if she knows he could be wrong, she is used by Bray to attracted men his way too.
Performances – The three leads are a delight to watch, Chris Ball, Rory J Saper and Maddie Phillips are all showing the reality of the difficult decision they are facing in life.
Story – The story here follows three friends who head across country for a music festival before entry the next stage of their lives after school, where they are looking for love. This is a coming-of-age tale that shows us just how difficult entering adulthood can be, showing how mistakes can leave people broken and how the adventures you have with friends will be memories for life, no matter how many different paths you take together. While most of the adventure is what we would expect to see, it is a journey that will help people define their lives.
Comedy – The comedy in this film comes from seeing how the three’s adventure goes off track in places, usually ending in a moment that will lead them to an extra laugh for the memories.
Settings – The film uses the settings to show us just where the friends end up going, be it the beauty spots, the big city or the festival, each one will end up giving them a story.
Scene of the Movie – The Waterfall.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Nothing really.
Final Thoughts – This is a wonderful coming-of-age story that tells us the importance of making memories, even if you are going in separate directions in life.