Summer in February (2013)

Who payed the critics

This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

This is How Movies Should Be Made

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The film focuses on the bohemian Lamorna Group, which was part of the Newlyn School of artists whop based themselves in Cornwall. The unpredictable Munnings develops a relationship with Florence who initially was perceived as likely to be Gilbert's partner. The marriage soon falls apart and Florence commits suicide. For a supposedly wild, bohemian group they don't seem to live a particularly hedonistic, pleasurable lifestyle and the film isn't particularly enjoyable itself. Some of the acting and dialogue seemed stereotypical. The group may well have been more interesting than the film, which perhaps does them an injustice.

"Summer in February" is a bio-pic based on real people--just the sort of story I usually like. The retired history teacher in me likes learning about actual events and characters. However, as much as I wanted to like the film, I found it very ponderous and unappealing. The film is set just before the First World War. It begins with a small community of bohemian artists who have made the Cornish coast of England their home. Here, they seem happy and productive. However, when a newcomer arrives, things begin to take a turn towards the dark side. Florence Carter Wood (Emily Browning) is a rich young lady who wants to study from other artists and she's readily accepted by this group. One guy is infatuated with her but he unfortunately keeps this to himself. In the meantime, another artist, A.J. Munnings (Dominic Cooper) falls for her and asks her to marry him. The fact that she said she would marry Munnings is odd, at least in the film, because there isn't much build up to this--they meet, spend a bit of time together and suddenly they marry. I have no idea if their courtship was like this in real life, but I do know that their marriage was NOT a marriage made in Heaven! Again, this was a bit confusing, as you see Wood marry him willingly--but on their honeymoon, she tried to kill herself. The film seems to say that she knew he was sleeping around but still married him and then tried to take her own life. While this made little sense and the film tried to paint her as a sad but understandable woman, I assume she was mentally ill--though the film seemed to de-emphasize this. Again, this did seem a bit confusing as healthy and normal folks DON'T marry people who they dislike and don't try suicide on their honeymoon! This just isn't rational and I was looking for some possible explanation--and without mental illness, it left me confused--especially since you really aren't sure if Munnings actually did anything wrong and the film showed him trying, in vain, to make the marriage work--at least at first. What's next for the happy couple? See the film if you'd like to know.When I went on the internet to learn more about Munnings and Wood, there wasn't a lot of information about their marriage. Munnings later went on to be one of Britain's most celebrated artists--that was easy to find. But, about Wood, there is very little information. So, how close this is to the true story, I have no idea. After seeing the film, however, I'm going to say something that usually violates what I want in bio-pics--I wish the story had been VERY different even if the film became more fictional than not! This is because I didn't like the characters--they all seemed brooding, dull and hard to relate to or care about in any way. This does make selling the film problematic--and when the film was recently released, it was a box office failure. Now, it's just been released to DVD--having debuted on Netflix this week. Considering how ponderous the film is at times and how contradictory the characters act, however, I just cannot recommend it. Now I am not saying it's all bad--the cinematography was lovely and the acting was good--but without likable characters (or at least ones you can understand) and a sluggish pace, it's really not a film that most folks would or could enjoy. By the way, if you do watch the film, be aware that there is a fair amount of full frontal nudity in the first portion of the movie. It didn't seem gratuitous or inappropriate, as these artists painted nudes and, like true bohemians, had a different moral compass than the typical Brit of the day.

This was a very depressing film. AJ comes across as a manipulative sociopath who's only talent is art. Anyone getting close to him seems to be damaged by it. Admittedly I don't know much about the artist, but this movie definitely didn't make me want to know anything more about him. He seemed like a cancerous evil man with no real redeeming qualities. Captain Evans seemed like a decent enough guy. though his character was a little bit one dimensional. The fact that Florence married AJ makes her seem like a complete moron and makes it hard to care about her inevitable suicide. She destroyed her life getting involved with such a worthless piece of excrement. There's little character development, and much of the characters motivations remain a mystery. Especially Florence.

Rarely do I rank movies so harshly but rarely do annoying protagonists emerge in a movie unless written by Hardy or Sand and generally they are toned down from their respective books. I did not realize this was based on a true story until the end (probably fetching popcorn for the opening credits). The movie opened up promising enough, and it quickly devolved. I found myself wondering when the two older women from early on in the movie would make an appearance. To sum it up: Casting: All pretty characters but with no chemistry at all. Screenplay: Forced, stilted dialogue. Subject matter: Spoiled, dull, talentless woman wants to take over a talented artists life once she marries him by trying to sabotage his career, withhold sex, and give her virtue away to his best friend while trying to alienate him from his other friends . Oh yeah, she's a charmer. Vibrant, witty, fun-loving artist falls in love with her virginity, good looks, and family background and marries her one can only imagine because he was unable to paint her face correctly. Enter best friend of both and confidante of all Gilbert usurper of AJs virgin bride. Rarely have I been less interested in seeing two people fornicate, who sides completely on virgin brides side and is alienated from his friend. The only surprise in this movie is that the two men didn't commit suicide. And although the ending was a blessed relief, I only wished it was at the beginning and the lives of the two shocked older women were used for the movie instead. Acting: everyone's acting was fine, there is no believability in anyone being who they are though, except the two older women from the beginning of the film, who seemed like they could be friends. A case could be made for a cult film, in that the audience could be rooting for not opening the door to Florence, asking periodically where's the two older ladies, and booing Florence when she tries to manipulate all the people around her. Perhaps with a bit of a cheer when she finally departs the action, and a few "gah's" when the over the top ending is finally concluded in the most melodramatic and uninteresting way possible.