Summer in February (2013) Reviews

• More enjoyable than the relatively low IMDb score would have you believe

  postmortem-books2013-06-16

  I went to this blind, as it were, not having read any reviews on here - I think this is probably the first - nor any of the critic reviews in the papers. I am a little surprised that it is showing so low on the star rating as, for myself and my wife, it was a throughly entertaining evening at the cinema. I knew very little about the Newlyn artistic set before but it would appear to have been as incestuous and fraught with failed and doomed relationships as the Bloomsbury literary group of a couple of decades later. Enter Florence, fresh from an overbearing father in London, to visit her brother who was already part of the set. Her beauty turns more than a few heads and A.J.Munnings, a wild and poetry-spouting bohemian, persuades her to sit as a model - and attempts to teach her the rudiments of drawing. Gilbert, in some ways the major-domo of the group but not an artist himself, also falls for Florence but she sees in him many of the traits of her strait-laced father and when Munnings proposes to her she accepts. Tragedy, as we will have garnered from what has gone before, will inevitably follow. The photography and cinematography is a pleasure to the eye and the producer has taken pains to get the period correct. Where it slightly falls down is in the character of Florence who, I have since learnt, was already unsettled and a depressive before she arrived at Lamorna. This would account for her later actions but we get no sense of her instability in the first half of the film. There may be an over-emphasis on "all down the pub for a jolly good drink and a sing-along and pay the landlord with a quick 10 second sketch for the bill" but overall we felt sufficiently interested in the history portrayed by the movie to do some subsequent research on the real characters portrayed.

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• Unexciting

  cinematic_aficionado2013-06-23

  Set in beautiful Cornwall about 100 years ago this catatonic film tells the story of a group of artistic friends leading a bohemian life which is interrupted by the arrival of a sister of one from the group. One falls for her but she ends up marrying another, an individual that turned out to be an awful husband driving his wife to suicide. Aside from the fact that this group of friends turned out to be some of the country's most influential artists, this film is held together by the beautiful cinematography and some interesting performances with the word exciting lacking in the storyline, or the way it engaged the audience.

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• A beautiful film

  automin-714-4515282013-06-17

  Having read the book several times, to see the film was an absolute 'must'. It would have been difficult to adapt the whole story to screen, particularly into 100 minutes, the consequence of which, those who have not read the book may not easily grasp the real intricacies and make-up of some of the characters. However, it is a beautiful film, beautifully made. The music and the photography contribute in a magical but powerful way and all the actors play their characters superbly. It was obviously made with passion. It is a haunting and heartbreaking story, one that can be thought provoking. "Summer In February" is an emotional journey, but certainly one worth taking. I intend to see it again soon. Very soon.

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• Good

  manitobaman812014-08-30

  It's beautifully acted and shot. Christopher Menaul, the director behind Belonging, Feast of July, Above Suspicion, 1st Night, Treatment and Punters, brings us this blob of nothingness. It's a true tale of love, liberty and scandal amongst the Edwardian artists' colony in Cornwall. I thought this film was fantastic in some ways and terrible in others. There's something for everyone here, though the two male leads were overcast. I refuse to totally dismiss this, because I find it quite engaging. The film's screenplay is tight and well-written, and worthy of praise. An intelligent script, with direction that does it justice. As a final rating, it receives 7 out of 10 from this reviewer.

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• Okay.

  zombiebird2013-10-31

  This was billed as a period romance, but in reality all it really is is a bunch of people roaming about the British seaside in 1913 with some art and poetry thrown in. The story is so weak and predictable and the characters are so bland even the most ardent Romance lover will end up disappointed. As far as the acting goes, Dominic Cooper is just horrible, and Dan Stevens is duller than cardboard, Emily Browning however, is thankfully somewhat better. I know the story here is based on real life events, and so calling it "weak" might not sound very just, but I feel that it is, for even if they were dealing with common themes and stories they could have at least tried to make them more interesting or even engaging, but sadly they don't. The only good part about it is that you get really beautiful views of the English seaside, so, in short, watch this is you really really really want to spend some time on the English seaside.

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