Films about filmmaking always scratch a very specific itch, exploring the various ups and downs that go into any given project. This is the subject of director Sôshi Masumoto’s debut feature, “It’s a Summer Film!”, in which he celebrates cinema’s history and ponders its future, although not without some major narrative hiccups.
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High-schooler Barefoot (Marika Ito) is a lover of cinema. She and her friends adore classic samurai flicks and dream of making a similar film of their own. Unfortunately, the school Film Club has already decided to fund the clichéd rom-com “I Can’t Help Loving You,” directed by resident ‘it girl’, Karin (Mahiru Koda). However, when Barefoot finds the perfect samurai lead for her script in the mysterious Rintaro (Daichi Kaneko), she pulls together an unlikely crew and sets out to make “Samurai Spring”.
Following Barefoot’s endeavours to produce her first feature is where “It’s a Summer Film!” is at its best. The eccentric young director revels in bringing her classic samurai vision to life, her infectious enthusiasm inspiring the rag-tag crew around her. The production’s early stages are sure to evoke memories for anyone who attempted to make any sort of film in their youth, as the inexperienced team faces the inconvenient realities of amateur filmmaking – a cyclist racing through your shot, the boom mic dipping into frame, etc. The excitement of creating something from scratch is captured wonderfully as Barefoot and her collaborators motivate one another, each crew member putting their unique skills to use. There are also some clear and welcome homages to classic samurai cinema in “Samurai Spring”, the film within the film, notably nods to the original “Zatoichi” series (1962 – 1989) and “Sword of Doom” (1966).
The process of watching Barefoot’s film get made is fun to watch in large part because of the actors’ charisma and their rapport with one another. The core friend group of Barefoot, Blue Hawaii, and Kickboard play off each other effortlessly, the dynamics of their relationships clear. Marika Ito, Yumi Kawai, and Kilala Inori all share great chemistry, while Mahiru Koda is also charming as the happy-go-lucky rival filmmaker Karin. Inori’s Blue Hawaii, in particular, has an unexpected but very funny arc, with the actor giving contrasting performances in each half of the film.
However, there are two areas in which “It’s a Summer Film!” not only stumbles but falls on its face: the sci-fi and the romance. Without spoiling too much, it’s revealed that the future is filmless, at least in the traditional sense; movies that last more than a minute are considered to be long, whereas typical runtimes of the present are practically unheard of. So is introduced the tone-deaf and severely short-sighted presumption that the people of the future won’t have the attention span for or interest in traditional cinema. This is a nonsense. Outside of boomer social media posts, there’s little evidence that today’s youth (the adults of the future) are incapable or uninterested in long-form art, particularly with contemporary blockbusters running at close to three hours in length continuing to succeed at the box office. This ridiculous and frankly snobby notion is presented with the utmost sincerity in Masumoto’s film, making it hard to take the character’s emotional turmoil at the alleged “death of cinema” seriously.
Pitfall number two is the half-baked, out-of-left-field romance that plagues the film’s final third, tanking what promised to be an inspiring finale. The intention is clearly to ridicule cheesy, modern rom-coms initially only for the film to embrace their artistry and entertainment value by becoming one in the end, but it’s very clumsily executed. The climax rapidly shifts away from the celebration of filmmaking that’s been the focus for the majority of the narrative, only to delve into an undercooked, unbelievable, and uninspired romance that dominates the finale. While subversive endings can often bring an unexpected twist, in the case of “It’s a Summer Film!”, the viewer is robbed of an earned conclusion in place of one that’s thoroughly underwhelming and sickeningly sentimental.
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“It’s a Summer Film!” is a fun and sincere ode to the joys of filmmaking for the most part, and this is where it succeeds. It’s the tacked-on romance, questionable sci-fi elements, and frankly cringe-inducing finale where the film falls short. The good elements certainly outweigh the bad, and the bubbly, youthful cast brings a lot of energy, but unless you have a penchant for sentimentality, it’s likely to leave a bad aftertaste.
