Été 93

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.

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.

It's really sad & not promising for humanity when people view a magnificent film like this & call it boring. It shows how our society, & especially school & the unconscionable entertainment industry, cater to the lowest levels of human nature, ignoring the pain, the love, & the good that we have but often don't know how to share or express.

Films like this can provide a genuine education at any level, with teachers serving as discussion leaders to help children express their pain, deal with their fears, & learn to appreciate one another while dealing with their differences & becoming supportive rather than competing, dominating, or constantly defeating one another as the morally bankrupt western civilization teaches them now.

In the wake of tragedy it's pretty impossible to try and move on and forget your loss, imagine doing that if you were six years old and had no immediate family left. That's the story of Summer 1993, as a young Frida spends a summer in countryside Spain with her Aunt as assimilation becomes a grand task for a grieving young one. Both subtly heartbreaking and beautiful, Summer 1993 finds a unique voice with a young girl (semi-autobiographical from director Carla Simon) as she navigates a new life that will either break her or make her stronger.

7.1/10

Very delicate Catalan movie about an orphan girl whom an uncle and his wife take care of, together with the child's cousin. Although living with a good family who gives her love, she suffers, is jealous about the other girl, lies and has michievous attitide, feels revolted. Not action-oriented, the story is however deep in dealing with all feelings involved, and all actors are very convincing, inclusing the children. As the movies advances we know a little more about the girl's mother. It is also an excelent film about being a child. Worth watching.