Wow, that was definitely something…
If you’re in the mood for a real downer, Cruel Summer comes highly recommended.
Danny, an autistic teenager, is bullied and tormented by a group of thugs after heading into the woods alone for a camping trip. Their anger toward him is fueled by lies spread by a local girl, who claims Danny committed a crime he had nothing to do with.
Even though the film is short, it still takes its time before Danny and the three other teenagers finally cross paths. In that buildup, you get a sense of who Danny is, and then of the others as well, their group dynamic becomes pretty clear. Nicholas is the authoritarian leader; the girl who has a crush on him mostly follows along; and the third guy is noticeably hesitant and skeptical.
The plot doesn’t really hold any surprises. The foundation, the lie, is laid out early, so you know from the start that things are headed straight for disaster.
When they finally meet, things start out almost harmlessly but escalate fast. The film does show violence, but it never feels exploitative. It doesn’t need to be, because the whole situation is already deeply unsettling.
At its core, it’s senseless violence against a friendly, innocent boy with a disability who just wanted to go camping. The lie or rather, the repeated lies, meant to justify everything are brought up again and again until the bitter end, even though everyone involved knows, deep down, that it’s nonsense.
What makes the film even more disturbing is that it’s based on a real case (David Rice, UK, 2014), though some details were changed. In reality, for example, there were only two perpetrators, and the motive was simply the desire to commit violence. The core of the story is accurate, though the real case was actually even more brutal than what the film shows.
It also reminded me of The Girl Next Door, because there are some clear parallels. Both are based on real events, both victims were completely innocent, the violence seems driven by boredom or pure cruelty, and both films leave you with something genuinely devastating.
Wow, that was definitely something…
If you’re in the mood for a real downer, Cruel Summer comes highly recommended.
Danny, an autistic teenager, is bullied and tormented by a group of thugs after heading into the woods alone for a camping trip. Their anger toward him is fueled by lies spread by a local girl, who claims Danny committed a crime he had nothing to do with.
Even though the film is short, it still takes its time before Danny and the three other teenagers finally cross paths. In that buildup, you get a sense of who Danny is, and then of the others as well, their group dynamic becomes pretty clear. Nicholas is the authoritarian leader; the girl who has a crush on him mostly follows along; and the third guy is noticeably hesitant and skeptical.
The plot doesn’t really hold any surprises. The foundation, the lie, is laid out early, so you know from the start that things are headed straight for disaster.
When they finally meet, things start out almost harmlessly but escalate fast. The film does show violence, but it never feels exploitative. It doesn’t need to be, because the whole situation is already deeply unsettling.
At its core, it’s senseless violence against a friendly, innocent boy with a disability who just wanted to go camping. The lie or rather, the repeated lies, meant to justify everything are brought up again and again until the bitter end, even though everyone involved knows, deep down, that it’s nonsense.
What makes the film even more disturbing is that it’s based on a real case (David Rice, UK, 2014), though some details were changed. In reality, for example, there were only two perpetrators, and the motive was simply the desire to commit violence. The core of the story is accurate, though the real case was actually even more brutal than what the film shows.
It also reminded me of The Girl Next Door, because there are some clear parallels. Both are based on real events, both victims were completely innocent, the violence seems driven by boredom or pure cruelty, and both films leave you with something genuinely devastating.
