First came Luca, now comes Summer of 85, neck and neck in the Call Me By Your Name riff contest; first came The Vigil, then came Shiva Baby, and now, again, comes Summer of 85, a few spots behind its predecessors in the “2021 movies about death in Jewish culture*” contest. What?
Don’t look at me. France is not the place where I’d expect a movie in which antisemitism and shiva both figure, but Summer of 85 doesn’t address or fixate on either of these directly; they’re window dressing, which in a way makes their inclusion here more noteworthy. Ozon could’ve just stuck with the default. He didn’t! Good for him.
You can read my full review over at Paste Magazine.
*Incidentally, I spoke with a rabbi about that theme as research for a pitch on The Vigil and Shiva Baby, and while the talk proved elucidating, nobody took the pitch. I’m on my soapbox here, but hey, culture editors: Jews are minorities too, and if you’re really asking for culture pitches, maybe take a beat and think about why you’re not interested in stories about Jewish culture?
A Constant Visual Feast 