Summertime, directed by Carlos López Estrada (Blindspotting), is not so much a movie as a collection of short slam poetry performances. For those interested in gazing at some LA landmarks and those who take vicarious pleasure in watching of after-the-fact emotional vindication for past wrongs, this is the movie for you. You will watch young people 1) process their feelings and 2) deliver the knock-out punch that would’ve brought down their wrongdoer 3) if they had only been quick enough to think of the words at the time. It’s not fair to call this an “ensemble,” because that implies that they contributed to the telling of a single story and that they were performing a character. It’s unclear to me how much of what I watched wasn’t just a recorded autobiography. Wife walked out after the first fifteen minutes when she says she was “tricked” by a girl on the bus who she thought was going to confront a guy by telling him off in prose. Probably worth watching this movie with a burger and fries, if you insist.
