LATE SUMMER

Directed by Ernie Park

Asian American Panorama / USA / 2012 / Art, Drama / 57 mins / English / HD / West Coast Premiere

LATE SUMMER

UltraStar Mission Valley
November 5, 2012 6:20 pm

Description

If Yasujiro Ozu could set a film in the Black South, it might look a lot like LATE SUMMER, Ernie Park’s glowing adaptation of films like Ozu’s Late Autumn. Park not only riffs on Ozu’s tales of family love and social belonging, he crafts a kindred poetic language, one born little by little, over time… in Nashville.

Park’s Tennessee is unlike any on screen before. Without a cowboy hat or gospel singer in sight, LATE SUMMER moves – make that strolls – through a black community filled with riches: friends in bookstores, poetry readings, academic debates, old charmers, respectful crushes – the sort of extraordinary gift of living where the corner store clerk is lookin’ out, where running into people is filled with pleasure. Against this idyllic moment, Nadia struggles with a choice between leaving for university or opening a teashop with her mother, recently recovered from a serious illness. Everyone has an opinion: choose college. But Nadia is quiet, and daily life with her mother Sonya (Tamiko Robinson) is so close, tender, and gracious that college as an obvious good is no longer so obvious.

Ernie Park expands Asian American filmmaking with this masterful and heartfelt film, relaxing us into the bittersweet feeling of a fading day. LATE SUMMER’s visuals shimmer, the performances breathe, and the emotion comes not from conflict but from grace – from knowing peace and deciding whether to leave one kind of joy for the unknown. –Christina Ree

All proceeds to go to the George C. Lin Memorial Fund

Co-presented by: The Chocolate Voice, Grossmont College’s UMOJA Program

Credits

Cast: Michelle Lynn Hardin, Tamiko Robinson, Jessica Townsend

Preceded By

AN EARLY SUMMER

Lu Lu / China, USA / 2012 / Short / 17 mins
For Chinese migrants in Los Angeles, a season of love ushers in hard choices.
Precedes: LATE SUMMER