The Summer with Carmen main backdrop
The Summer with Carmen main poster

The Summer with Carmen

Visit website

6.5/10 • 24

2024-06-131h 46m

Comedy

While having a day-long swim at Athens’ queer beach, best friends Demosthenes and Nikitas recall the events of a recent summer in the prospect of turning them into a screenplay for Nikitas’ feature debut.

Directors
Zacharias Mavroeidis
Writters
Zacharias Mavroeidis, Xenofondas Chalatsis
Editors
Zacharias Mavroeidis, Livia Neroutsopoulou

Top Billed Cast

View Credits
  1. Yorgos Tsiantoulas

    Yorgos Tsiantoulas

    Demosthenes

  2. Andreas Labropoulos

    Andreas Labropoulos

    Nikitas

  3. Nikolas Mihas

    Nikolas Mihas

    Panos

  4. Roubini Vasilakopoulou

    Roubini Vasilakopoulou

    Kaiti

  5. Vasilis Tsigristaris

    Vasilis Tsigristaris

    Thymios

  6. Nantia Margariti

    Nantia Margariti

    Fenia

  7. Clio Chavgie

    Clio Chavgie

    Eleni

  8. Jacques Simha

    Jacques Simha

    Kostakis

  9. Christos Stathousis

    Christos Stathousis

    Worker

Reviews2

View Reviews
Brent Marchant Avatar

Brent Marchant

Sep 18, 2024

6/10

The movie-within-a-movie narrative is a popular cinematic storytelling approach, but, to my knowledge, writer-director Zacharias Mavroeidis’s fourth feature outing is the first film to make use of it in the LGBTQ+ genre. This endearing gay comedy-drama tells the story of two long-time best friends, Demosthenes (Yorgos Tsiantoulas), a former actor-turned civil servant, and Nikitas (Andreas Labropoulos), a former actor-turned aspiring filmmaker, who try to come up with a concept for the would-be auteur’s latest movie project while hanging out together at a nude beach on the stunningly beautiful Greek seacoast. They toss around a variety of ideas, but they get the most traction out of a story and script based on the waning days of Demos’s relationship with his former partner, Panos (Nikolaos Mikas), two summers earlier, a breakup for which Nikitas had a tolerance-testing front row seat. The events of that awkward, protracted separation are depicted here in a series of flashbacks in which the duo struggles to figure out where things went wrong and why, an examination that ultimately ends up revealing more about them as individuals than as a couple. In the process, the film presents a refreshingly authentic, often-revealing look at the dynamics of relationships and friendships among gay men, particularly when it comes to matters of honesty and commitment, both in and out of partnership contexts. And, along the way, the authors of this evolving production simultaneously look for ways to spice up their work, an exercise in inspired creativity, emboldened social activism, fiercely courageous self-acceptance, constrained moviemaking economics, challenging family relations and even benevolent pet care. However, the breadth of material presented in this story is, admittedly, a lot to skillfully massage into a coherent finished product. The filmmaker seems sincere enough in what he’s trying to say, but he also comes across as somewhat inundated in trying to pull it all together into a neat and tidy package. To be sure, there are many earnest moments and flashes of brilliant humor here, but there’s also a tendency to meander and a good deal of extraneous material that could have easily been deleted. This is perhaps most noticeable in the final act, where the momentum starts to sputter, almost as if the director doesn’t quite know how to wrap things up. “The Summer with Carmen” truly represents an ambitious effort with decidedly mature, thoughtful sensibilities running throughout (arguably much more so than what one typically sees in many LGBTQ+ films), but it’s also one that could have benefitted greatly from an editor unafraid to make the necessary cuts to allow it to shine as brightly as it might have.

Media

  • The Summer with Carmen poster
  • The Summer with Carmen poster
  • The Summer with Carmen poster
  • The Summer with Carmen poster

Recommendations

  • Caveat main backdrop

    Caveat

    6.3

  • Funny Face main backdrop

    Funny Face

    7.0

  • Just a Question of Love main backdrop

    Just a Question of Love

    7.3

  • The Arctic: 66.5 Degrees North main backdrop

    The Arctic: 66.5 Degrees North

    8.2

  • 37 Days main backdrop

    37 Days

    5.0

  • Warfare main backdrop

    Warfare

    7.2

  • Cloud Atlas main backdrop

    Cloud Atlas

    6.9

  • Parasite main backdrop

    Parasite

    8.5

  • Forrest Gump main backdrop

    Forrest Gump

    8.5

  • Conclave main backdrop

    Conclave

    7.2

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey main backdrop

    2001: A Space Odyssey

    8.1

  • Oppenheimer main backdrop

    Oppenheimer

    8.1

  • Mufasa: The Lion King main backdrop

    Mufasa: The Lion King

    7.4

  • Despicable Me 4 main backdrop

    Despicable Me 4

    7.0

  • Gladiator II main backdrop

    Gladiator II

    6.7

  • The Super Mario Bros. Movie main backdrop

    The Super Mario Bros. Movie

    7.6

  • The Substance main backdrop

    The Substance

    7.1

  • The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring main backdrop

    The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

    8.4

  • The Batman main backdrop

    The Batman

    7.7

  • Deadpool & Wolverine main backdrop

    Deadpool & Wolverine

    7.6

Status
Released
Original Language
Greek
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
beachathens, greecelgbtqueergay theme