Her Summer (2004)

The second film from Bluebox Limited, the group of young filmmakers (Scott Beck and Bryan Woods) that made the successful University Heights, is called Her Summer. The story involves two young friends who scour through a box of old police evidence, searching for clues of the unsolved murders of two people and the potential whereabouts of a missing police officer who discovered the bodies and was related to the victims.

The story behind the story is the police plot is based on actual events that occurred in Iowa and the script went through various incarnations trying to tell that story... first a heavy character drama, the second a silent ghost story film, the third a teen buddy film. In the end, Her Summer ends up trying to be two of those, but with very mixed results, with only one of them being successful.

Written and directed by Woods, the greatest challenge with Her Summer is that the filmmakers tried to force together two very different styles of storytelling, with very different intents, into one film.

First, the true life ghost story is told very well, with minimal dialogue, structured and planned out visuals as well as very creepy music. Interspersed between this unnerving tale of murder and mystery are two high school/college age kids who search through a box of police evidence about the crime, joking, talking about dates to dances and life in general. The dialogue is, at times, improvised, making it less tight and often meandering.

Splicing together a sharp, well thought out ghost story with exposition about teen angst between two guys in a basement makes for a inconsistent approach and ultimately leads to confusion. As the film opens, I am immediately brought into the mystery behind the murders and the torment the police officer goes through the night he discovers their bodies.

I am then thrust into a conversation about a guy hemming and hawing about calling a girl he likes and asking her to a dance. I'm then brought back to the crime scene and unexplained, ghostly events. Then back to a conversation about Mountain Dew and the appropriate use of the term Dewski.

You get the idea.

It is two different movies thrust into one and while the end of the film tries to effectively tie the two storylines together, it only does so with a modicum of success. I kept asking myself, "What does this movie want to be?"

The beauty of microcinema (i.e., very low budget filmmaking) is that you have the freedom to take chances and try things mainstream film studios wouldn't attempt. So, I appreciate the idea and the risks behind telling Her Summer this way, however I wish the filmmakers would have either told a really good ghost story or made a film about the fleeting, yet memorable moments of youth... but not at the same time.