Within the last year or two, I was given (without much warning) the duty of helping to organize a 20th reunion for my High School graduating class (set for the fall of this year).
Honestly, it is somewhat low-key (we are all just meeting at a bar for now), but the interactions with my fellow grads of 2006 will indeed be a unique blend of fear and excitement (since I am one of those heading the whole thing, I doubt I can avoid people much when I am there). If it is anything like the reunions shown in Chasing Summer, it will be much more fear than excitement.
Granted, my past twenty years are far from similar to that of the film’s protagonist, Jaime (Iliza Shlesinger, who also wrote the script). After a personal traumatizing event in her late teens, she left her suburban Texas town to work as a first responder and has not returned in two decades. The film opens with her boyfriend dumping her, and losing her job, forcing her to move back home (her mom is played wonderfully by Megan Mullally). Admittedly, it took me some time to realize this almost sounds like a version of a Hallmark Channel film, but it definitely does not go that route any further.
She offers to help out at the local roller rink, which is run by her older sister Marissa (Cassidey Freeman), who has her own past sins (one of which definitely impacted Jaime). She runs into old classmates, who basically have families of their own. This includes her old boyfriend Chase (Tom Welling, who, like Freeman, was once on a show called Smallville). Unable to move on from the past, she forms a mentorship of sorts with her much younger co-worker Harper (Lola Tung) and forms a relationship with the equally young Colby (Garrett Wareing).
Shlesinger and director Josephine Decker are able to nicely dive into the idea of reliving nostalgia (both the positive and negative types), and the title of the film clearly demonstrates that idea of chasing said nostalgia one feels at a young age over a particular summer (in my case, the various summer memories are all meshed into one inside my head).
The tricky thing here is the age gap in the romantic relationships. I’m not entirely opposed to there being big age gaps (provided they have chemistry, and it is not a kid dating an adult), as that has proven to work in other films (although I still feel the one in Harold and Maude was pushing it too far). The real issue I have is a main plot twist in this film that, while I won’t spoil it, did in fact make me feel a bit cringy, to say the least.
Parents, since this film was just released out of Sundance, there is no rating at the moment. With the swearing and sexual content/nudity, I can assure you it will be rated R.
Like many of us, Jaime is relatable in that there is something from her past she is unable to let go of (though I would hope not as drastic as her past events). With that aspect of the film, Schlesinger brings depth and gravitas to her character. Still, the film ends without enough closure for her character, especially when the filmmakers decided to add scenes at the end credits that are a combination of gratuitousness and superfluousness.
Looking back, the film reminds me of a bit of a leaky roof.
Overall:
Nothing else to say 