Verão 1993

Boxes are stacked in the living room of six-year-old Frida's (Laia Artigas) house as she prepares to go and live with her Uncle Esteve (David Verdaguer, "Anchor and Hope") and Aunt Marga (Bruna Cusi, "Uncertain Glory") after the death of her mother. Spain's submission for Best Foreign Film at the 2018 Oscars, director Carla Simón's autobiographical Summer 1993 (Estiu 1993) is a sensitive and nuanced hymn to childhood whose magic is interrupted by the sudden dark intrusions of the adult world. As the foundations of six-year-old Frida's belief in the world as a safe place are shattered, she must come to terms with living with a new set of parents in a rural Catalan village far removed from the city of Barcelona in which she grew up.

Calling on her childhood recollections, Simón's film consists of vignettes focusing on Frida's ability to adjust to her profoundly changed life. The relationship between Frida and her three-year-old cousin Anna (Paula Robles) alternates between the joy of spontaneous play, and Frida's acting out her grief in ways that threaten Anna's well being. From having fun playing in the bathtub to play acting as grown-ups and to joining a local Basque Carnival, the performances are so natural that they seem improvised. Though Esteve and Marga are warm people who are generous in their love, Frida is tentative and withdrawn. A visit to a doctor for testing show their concern about Frida carrying the AIDS virus (which it is hinted her mother died from), but the significance of the visit does not register on the child.

Emotions bubbling beneath the surface do not appear until a visit by Frida's grandparents Avi and Avia (Fermí Reixach, "Night and Day," TV series and Isabel Rocatti, "El dia de mañana," TV series). Prompted by her grandmother's focus on praying, Frida sneaks out of the house at night to leave gifts for her mother in the woods near the statue of the Virgin Mary, but confides in no one. The grandparent's visit is traumatic for Frida, however. Despite their disparaging comments about their daughter's lifestyle expressed in Frida's presence, she desperately wants to go home with them and has to be physically restrained by her uncle. As her anger begins to surface, Frida uses Anna as a target of her distress, telling her cousin that she has so many dolls because her parents loved her so much.

She also encourages Anna to jump into a pool with her even though she knows the water is above her head. In an even scarier incident, Frida leaves Anna by herself in the woods, telling her to wait there until she comes back. When she doesn't return, Marga panics while Anna falls and breaks her arm causing Marga to say that Frida is used to getting her own way and needs greater discipline, telling Esteve, "That girl has no morals." Having overheard the conversation, Frida decides to run away, heartbreakingly telling Anna that "no one loves me here." Led by Artigas' remarkably expressive performance, Simón guides the film to its stunning conclusion with a sure hand that avoids sentimentality, relying only on the resilience of childhood innocence and the impeccable strength of love to achieve its results.

One of the most beautiful films I've seen in recent memory. The gorgeous cinematography provides a backdrop for a look at loss through the eyes of a child, in this case played by Laia Artigas who gives a truly arresting performance

The film has been compared to other Spanish classics that feature child protagonists like Cría Cuervos and The Spirit of the Beehive. While I thoroughly enjoyed what appears to be a pretty clear nod to Cría Cuervos in the scene where the little girls are "playing adults," this film certainly stands on its own.

Also, although I've seen relatively few films in Catalan, this has undoubtedly been my favorite, so I'd say this also qualifies as a triumph for Catalan cinema!

Highly recommended.

Summer 1993" (2017 release from Catalonia; 97 min.) brings the story of Frida, a 6 or 7 yr. old girl. As the movie opens, we see Frida's stuff being boxed up, and Frida along with a couple driving out of the city. The couple discuss the situation in hushed terms but we pick up quickly that Frida's mom just passed away (we're not quite sure of what), and that Frida is now taken care of by her mom's brother Esteve and his wife Marga. The couple have a daughter of their own, 3 or 4 yr. old Anna. How will Frida adopt to her new environment? more importantly, how will the little girl process the death of her mom? At this point we're 10 min. into the mvie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this movie is written and directed by Carla Simon, based on her memoirs and with Frida standing in for Carla. Set in rural Catalonia, we observe how Frida tries to settle into this new family, while at the same time dealing with her overwhelming sense of loss and sadness. Not surprisingly, Frida is at times scared, confused, angry, or withdrawn (and at times all of those at once). There seemingly is no "plot" to speak of, but that is in fact not the case at all. It's just that the "plot" reveals itself with subtlety. Of course none of this would have been possible but for the astonishing performance of the little girl who plays Frida, wow, just wow Not enough can be said about that. The director smartly gives us a lot of interaction between Frida and Anna, with at times uninterrupted shots that seemingly go forever (in reality: a minute or two). The closing scene of the movie is both brilliant and heartbreaking. (Afterwards, the movie shows it is dedicated to the memory of Carla Simon's mother.)

"Summer 1993" premiered at the 2017 Berlin film festival, to immediate acclaim. I have no idea why it's taken 18 months for the movie to reach US theaters. The movie opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Saturday matinee screening where I saw this at was attended nicely (but nowhere close to sold out). If you like a top notch foreign movie that examines how a young girl copes with her mom's death, I readily recommend you seek this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

This is the story of a little girl from Barcelona who is adopted by her aunt's family in the countryside, after her mother passes away. Largely autobiographical, "Summer 1993" is filmed in a very naturalistic style and almost feels like a documentary. The director, Carla Simón, pays special attention to the kind of small details that can make a big difference to a young kid. Although not very much seems to be going on in the surface, one can see that a very important drama, charged with intense emotions, is going on deep in the lives of this little person and the family that has welcomed her. The acting is all very effective and particularly Laia Artigas, who plays the main character, is surprisingly strong and charismatic for someone her age.

"Summer 1993" is one of many Spanish films that observe the world through the eyes of a child. Other examples include the classics "Cría Cuervos", "The Spirit of the Beehive" and "El Sur". The contemplative gaze and relatively slow pace remind me of "En Construcción", a documentary by another Catalan filmmaker, José Luis Guerín.

After the death of her mother, young Frida is left an orphan. She moves from Barcelona to a small town to live with her uncle and aunt.

This Spanish film starts as a gentle coming-of-age story. There is the tragedy of her mother's death but the movie is still pretty gentle. The mother who pulls her child from Frida is what sets this off. Everything turns. Everybody's reactions take a different undertone. The filmmaker maintains her delicate touch but there is real emotional power. It's a compelling story.