Summertime

2021 1h 35m EN

😐

6.4

MID

★6.4TMDB · 23

ComedyDramaMusic

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Over the course of a hot summer day in Los Angeles, the lives of 25 young Angelinos intersect. A skating guitarist, a tagger, two wannabe rappers, an exasperated fast-food worker, a limo driver—they all weave in and out of each other's stories. Through poetry they express life, love, heartache, family, home, and fear. One of them just wants to find someplace that still serves good cheeseburgers.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Austin Antoine
Rah
Marquesha Babers
Marquesha
Bryce Banks
Anewbyss
Bene't Benton
Bene't
Amaya Blankenship
Amaya
Caedmon Branch
Sam
Mila Cuda
Mila
Gabriela de Luna
Alejandra (Paulina's mother)

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Carlos López Estrada
Writers: Dave Harris
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 7

ERA

Did you know

Released 5 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Carlos López Estrada, shot by John Schmidt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John W. Snyder. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 7

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jonathan Melin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 7

CAST

Did you know

Austin Antoine and Marquesha Babers and Bryce Banks carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 7

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt11394340 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 7

WILD

Did you know

Only 23 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Carlos López Estrada directs. John Schmidt behind the camera. John W. Snyder scores. Jonathan Melin cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Released 5 years ago.
2Directed by Carlos López Estrada, shot by John Schmidt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by John W. Snyder. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Jonathan Melin shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Austin Antoine and Marquesha Babers and Bryce Banks carry the top of the cast.
6IMDB entry: tt11394340 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
7Only 23 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: John Schmidt
Original score: John W. Snyder
Editing: Jonathan Melin
Production design: Tyler Jensen
Costume design: Brianna Murphy
Makeup / hair: Kai Stamps
Stunt coordinator: Casey Adams
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Summertime (2021)

Also by

Carlos López Estrada

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Louisa Moore - Screen Zealots2020-03-27
★ 8/10
In 2018, the film world was introduced to exciting new director Carlos López Estrada and his best-of-the-year movie, “Blindspotting.” Expectations for filmmakers as talented as Estrada can feel insurmountable, but “Summertime,” his sophomore feature film, is a wildly successful storytelling experiment of performance art and spoken word poetry. On the surface it sounds like an arduous undertaking, but somehow it turns out to be the epitome of indie cinema: an ego-less artistic collaboration with zero phoniness. Over the course of a summer day in Los Angeles, the lives of 25 teenagers intersect. There isn’t much plot to speak of, as a loose narrative weaves all of the stories together. The story is told through spoken-word poetry, all written and performed by the amateur cast (including Tyris Winter, Marquesha Babers, Mila Cuda, Austin Antoine, Gordon Ip, Maia Mayor, and Walter Finnie Jr.). These aren’t actors but artists, and the film a vehicle to share their authentic voices. The cast is appealing with big personalities and even bigger lyrical talents, and their poems are deeply rooted in place and experience. These diverse young artists are all from and live in Los Angeles, and they offer an unfiltered, unpolished, and raw perspective that comes from the soul. It’s deeply meaningful how they interconnect art with their city, and their vibrant voices are ones that the world needs to hear. Surprisingly, the movie flows seamlessly and doesn’t feel gimmicky (despite a choppy start and a brief lag in the middle). This experiment could’ve (and likely should’ve) gone the wrong way fast, but somehow all the pieces come together and the cast and crew manages to pull it off. It’s a winning combination of a visionary director paired with young artists speaking their truth, and the film’s flaws make it all the more powerful. The film unmasks the impassioned cries of hope and frustration from a young generation through their urban poetry, and it’s as inspiring as it is complicated. “Summertime” is what effective art is all about.

Production companies