Reviews
Last Summer
Reviewed by Vaughan Ames
Last Sunday, we were lucky enough to have Jon Jones along to introduce and answer questions about his film 'Last Summer'. Jon has directed many tv programmes but this was his first sortie into the cinema. His film about how four young boys living in the relative quiet of 1970s Welsh countryside deal with a major tragedy was inspired by his own youth in Wales; he wanted to show how the innocence of youth is at first unable to deal with the complexity of 'real life' but, in the end, finds its own answers which are not the same as adults.
So the film begins by following these four lads messing about in the woods and the fields, generally enjoying the summer months before the days of smart phones. We see Anne, the mother of two of them packing her bags ready to leave her husband, Hywell, for another man. When Hywell comes home, he cannot deal with this and shoots first his wife, then tries to shoot his eldest son, Kevin, and the boys, before turning the gun on himself: life in this tiny community 'will never be the same again', as the mother of the other two boys comments. But what do the boys think and, more specifically, what does Davy think?
Whilst his friends are too shell shocked by the loss of their parents, Davy will not accept the adults view that the boys should go into a home, or that their dog, Rex, should be put down. As he gets his nose into all that is going on with the police, his parents and Kevin, he is the only one who thinks there should be a solution. First trying to rescue Rex, then to keep the boys from being shipped off to Swansea, then trying to stop Kevin from killing the man his mother was going to live with; is he just too young to understand, or can he really put all the pieces back together again?
The acting was superb; the four boys were all amateurs and Noa Thomas (Davy) especially was amazing, the camera hardly ever leaving him. As for Jon Jones; the audience really seemed to bond with him in the Q&A; thanks Jon!
So the film begins by following these four lads messing about in the woods and the fields, generally enjoying the summer months before the days of smart phones. We see Anne, the mother of two of them packing her bags ready to leave her husband, Hywell, for another man. When Hywell comes home, he cannot deal with this and shoots first his wife, then tries to shoot his eldest son, Kevin, and the boys, before turning the gun on himself: life in this tiny community 'will never be the same again', as the mother of the other two boys comments. But what do the boys think and, more specifically, what does Davy think?
Whilst his friends are too shell shocked by the loss of their parents, Davy will not accept the adults view that the boys should go into a home, or that their dog, Rex, should be put down. As he gets his nose into all that is going on with the police, his parents and Kevin, he is the only one who thinks there should be a solution. First trying to rescue Rex, then to keep the boys from being shipped off to Swansea, then trying to stop Kevin from killing the man his mother was going to live with; is he just too young to understand, or can he really put all the pieces back together again?
The acting was superb; the four boys were all amateurs and Noa Thomas (Davy) especially was amazing, the camera hardly ever leaving him. As for Jon Jones; the audience really seemed to bond with him in the Q&A; thanks Jon!