Dark Summer is a simple, urban love story set in Liverpool. It is a tale of the lossed innocence of the two young protagonists Jes and Abe. The film follows them on the voyage that is their relationship, through one long summer full of struggle and achievement, love and death and ultimately failure and reevaluation. Which is dictated not so much by their own conscious decision but by the intervention of fate. Shot entirely in Liverpool, the city is as much part of the film as the two main characters, personifying the juxtaposition of harshness and warmth with its beautiful yet raw surroundings. The ebb and flow of the River Mersey echoing the certainty that time will pass.
—Charles Teton <uipl@compuserve.com>