The darling of the 2013 Sundance film festival, the Kings of Summer, is the product of delicious slow-motion shots, a nuanced, witty tie-in script and some incredible sound mixing. The feature is intensely likeable, providing an intriguing balance of comedy and drama and a series of compelling, self-motivated characters. The film chronicles the summer of three boys who, in search of independence, build a house and live in the woods. What ensues are forest-deep rhythmic dancing and drumming, graceful leaps into the river, treks across sun-lit fields and drinks at sunset, every sunset. And most of all this is presented in true cinematic style: endless montages accompanied by impeccable sound editing. What makes The Kings of Summer so noteworthy is its many forms: it is an honest, endearing coming-of-age story, a love letter to nature and youth and a romance with a realistic slap. It borders on revelatory, never is it jarring and consistently it is quotable, euphoric and completely, of the moment.
78/100
Great write up! Sometimes I think I'm getting too old to enjoy "coming of age" type stories anymore, then something like Kings of Summer comes around and it's just a wonderfully made film.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I think its pretty hard to resist the coming-of-age genre these days when we've had such great contributions lately: The Spectacular Now, Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Way Way Back.
DeleteGood review Angela. Out of all the coming-of-agers from last summer, this was by far my least favorite, but I still appreciated it nonetheless. Made me feel young and ambitious all over again!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dan. There were so many strong ones last year! I think that The Spectacular Now was my favourite. It definitely had a depth which the Kings of Summer did not achieve and better performances all round. Kings was still pretty special though!
Delete