This title from IFC Films will be available for streaming rentals on most platforms Friday, July 31st.
As the summer stretches on, more and more quirky little movies are finding their ways to streaming platforms. This week, IFC Films is releasing such another with Summerland, a sometimes syrupy but well-acted period drama from the UK. It most certainly won’t rock the world, strains credibility and doesn’t even earn the tears it desperately wants to draw from viewers. Yet the picture is still a scenic, pleasant and sweetly told tale of a woman overcoming loss and finding love in the world.
The story takes place on coast of England at a scenic cottage in a seaside town. A temperamental writer named Alice Lamb (Penelope Wilton) types away and viewers witness her life during World War II. The flashbacks confirm that the younger Alice (Gemma Arterton) was just as difficult and prickly, ostracized by the town’s citizens while working on a thesis involving myth and legend. When the loner leans that she has been chosen to care for a boy named Frank (Lucas Bond) whose parents are involved in the war effort, the lead refuses. However, as time passes Alice begins to soften towards Frank and the two form a friendship. The boy asks questions about her past, leading to further flashbacks detailing a failed relationship with a student named Vera (Gugu Mbatha-Raw).
There’s plenty of intrigue early on as viewers attempt to get a handle on why local children refer to Alice as the town witch (or as others put it, the beast on the beach). And of course, the arrival of an unwanted visitor tests the patience this unlikely pair. Frank feels unwanted and lonely while Alice does her best to keep him at arm’s length. There are a couple of interesting conversations about the scholar’s work about folklore and myth and her efforts to identify and explain the scientific reasons for some of the phenomenon reported by others. One significant local myth involves a Pagan city believed to float in the clouds just off the coast.
The performances are all engaging and sensitively handled, from the youngster under Alice’s care to the flashbacks of the writer falling in love, as well as her despair after Vera prioritizes another aspect of her life over the relationship, which reinforces the lead’s icy and brusque personality. All of this is shot against the stunning beauty of what appear to be the White Cliffs of Dover. Whether these characters are discussing their academic theories, addressing issues haunting them characters like failed romances as well as potential loss, it’s all shot against a lovely backdrop. The score is also memorable, adding to the atmosphere and helping to build some of the drama.
While there’s definitely plenty of onscreen charm between all the characters, some of the story elements introduced late in the movie do feel like a stretch. Attempts are made to explain how and why things occurred in a specific manner, but they do seem contrived. While there are tragic elements in the story, the plot wraps itself up in a very simple and almost convenient manner, thus avoiding any complexities between characters that would have otherwise had to have been addressed.
In the end, the movie most assuredly isn’t perfect. Still, the performers are all appealing even if the screenplay feels comfortable tying every loose end up in a picture-perfect manner. And the images in Summerland are pleasant enough overall to prove reasonably diverting spell for those in need of a pretty change of scenery.