Reno Rangan It can't get any more beautiful than this. I have seen many lesbian films, but this one was like a result of when a poet and an artist comes together. It was so poetic, as well as an enchanting video portrait. Not everything in the film was pleasant, I mean not the romance parts, but you know self hurting parts as one got depressed in their life. That's where it all begins, an awesomely written screenplay where most of the film remains dialogueless. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy the stunning cinematography and a cute little romance the blends with that.This is a Lithuanian film, but internationally co-produced. It won some awards at the various film festivals. It was officially selected as the Lithuanian entry for the 88th American Academy Awards, but did not make it. Written and directed by a woman filmmaker and this is her second feature film. I hope she makes more films like this with characters with emotions, then she will be in my watch out list. There's no comparable with any other lesbian film as many people doing. This is a very unique, especially in the storytelling segment. Most importantly, anybody with no objection on some sex-romance will do understand and appreciated the artistic presenstation of this film.The title itself a plot line. So you know the storyline, but for how it all happens need to be watched. Sangaile is in her summer holiday, spending time with her parents in a rural villa. Near the house, there's an airfield where some spectacular display taking place, she instantly falls in love with that. That's where she meets a girl named Auste, who seems very interested in her. So later they decide to hang out and do the stuffs. After a few meets, with ups and downs, there relationship intensely grows, but how far it goes and how the story ends was told in the remaining parts."You know nobody will understand you better than me."Not the entire film is about the romance that jumps into the bed. There are some messages, like how one influence the other one to change her character. Like depressed and lost, and got no idea about the future, a new hope rises like a sun for the new day after a long winter. The romance between two different social classes and their field of interest, all those fills the film on all the sides with its own colours like a Rubik's cube. The other advantage was the greatly ignoring the common clichés, especially from a lesbian film aspect.Films are collections of many things. From the actors to filmmakers to technicians and locations, when these all get together accurately, a beautiful product like this emerges. That's where it succeeded. First the actors, everyone, but the majority of the tale focused between the two characters and those two were brilliant. They executed so perfectly as it was real. You won't get that kind of great chemistry in all the romance film you watch. There are many moments that feels like it was paused, in a good sense as a romantic, as well as visually.Then comes the locations. As it is set in the rural, they explored the landscapes excellently. They were not intended to give preferences on those, but while capturing the film scenes, they used some interesting angles to get those beautiful backgrounds. As I said earlier, the images talk more than the film characters. The music score was also very good. The overall film looks like a touch of the 60s or 70s, but there's no any clarifications about the timeline. Seeing the lifestyle, all the gadgets et cetera, it is obviously a modern day tale.Observe everything carefully in the film. The film characters, the story, as well as production design was very simple. Like they did not spend much for making it. Yet it delivered big. Sadly, this is not a well recognised film, not much from LGBT film fanatic friends as well. I haven't seen many Lithuanian films, but surely this is one of the best from that region I have seen. You know who's the target audience for this, but the film is too good, so I hope you make a right choice. Though it is for adults, there's nothing much serious to consider in the romance/sex/nudity parts, so the matured and open minded teens can try this. Recommended!7.5/10

losindiscretoscine Even if she is from Lithuania, the director Alanté Kavaïte lives and works mainly in France so "Summer of Sangaïle" is the first film she shoots in her native country. Through the bright photography and the poetical shots, the film cleverly combines two story lines: the passion that is born between two opposite girls and Sangaïle's fascination and fear for planes. The chemistry between the actresses is blatant and we perceive it through the sublime contemplative shots and even if the plot is deliberately slow-paced, Sangaïle's evolution is charming. The clumsiness of some scenes and some easy story turns (such as the teenager that cuts herself) do not spoil the film, instead, they add a particular sensitivity to the bright atmosphere that witnesses the birth of this summer love. The scenery, between the lake and the landscapes that remind of Finland and the cold post-Soviet architecture, makes the film even more realistic and we understand that this duality exists not only between two different characters that get to love each other, but also between the anxiety and the beauty of overcoming our fears. Full review on our blog Los Indiscretos : https://losindiscretos.org

zacknabo Every year it never fails. At the end of every year when "Best of" list are being released I will check out what films legendary French film journal Cahiers du Cinema has voted to their top ten. I enjoy Cahiers' top ten, somewhat. Hell, it's always interesting, always some film selections that make you say "hmm?" Sometimes these films pay off brilliantly, case in point #1 on the 2014 list: Bruno Dumont's Li'l Quinquin. Well The Summer of Sangaile was #9…and this isn't contemporary master Bruno Dumont; Toto we're not in Northern France anymore. No, we are in Lithuania for Atlante Kavaite's (Fissures) second film. Just reading the general summary of the film and noting that Cahiers had listed it to their annual top ten, I couldn't help but to think Rohmer. How Roh-ng I was. Here we have a young Lithuanian girl of 17, Sangaile (Julija Steponaityte), an aviation enthusiast vacationing with her parents who is going to learn about the pleasures and travails of young love through the quirky and beguiling (somewhat indie girl stereotype) Auste (Aiste Dirziute). The girls meet at air show. The girls begin to party with each other and hangout regularly. The relationship becomes sexual…I guess Kavaite handled it better than Kechine did Blue is the Warmest Colour. Sangaile who has some serious issues, like cutting, amongst other angst-y teenage problems begins to divulge these facts to Auste who is very supportive. Then the revelation comes that nearly tears them apart. Sangaile the wannabe aviator is afraid of heights…but they persevere through this obstacle in their relationship…sort of. The main problem is caring if they did, and that is asking A LOT! I guess Sangaile comes of age…It is as brutal to write as it was to watch. The only redeeming factors of the film are Atlante Kavaite's impeccable sense of the visual. She definitely has a great gift for taking seemingly normal locales and turning them into places of visual wonder. There are some truly beautiful looking scenes in the film, even if some are a bit too much, i.e. the puffy skirts that are lined with something like Christmas lights as the young girls begin to make love in a field as night falls. When the two main characters are apart, the passion and yearning that the young actresses display is clearly palpable makes for the most beautiful and sensual moments of the entire film. Where the film truly falls flat on its face is that the" transformative moments" of Sangaile's life at this point are so bland that it effectively dilutes the true tribulations that this troubled young lady is trying to deal with, thus detaching the viewer completely from the girls' story, as well as dismantling any importance the narrative had a chance of possessing. Other than the lesbian sex this film could easily be a horrible Hollywood teenage-girl-coming-of-age-drama. There is one scene where both girls are lounging on the shore of the lake and Kavaite uses the camera to isolate different body parts and the opening shot in this sequence last for about seven seconds and is of one of the girls' knee, which sent me to Claire's Knee, and yes, that is the closest we come to Rohmer.All I can say is I hated myself for watching this entire movie. I should have turned it off, no clue why I didn't. The positive thing I can say is that Kavaite has the cinematographic eye for transforming the mundane into beauty and taking nature and elevating its innate aesthetic qualities, now write a damn story. It all comes back to that nefarious Cahiers; you duped me (and I'm sure many other readers of your magazine) again, but hey, maybe your next unusual selection will strike gold. I'll keep playing the Cahiers lottery. I always do. Why stop now?

Telmo Campos E Matos One beautiful story narrated with several stand still moments but not in excess. The photography of the film and the landscapes used are simple and a the same time extraordinary. Julija Steponaityte can show us the feelings inside of a troubled young woman, without too much words. Her expressions make us understand what the character is felling and the troubles that goes on her life. Aiste Dirziute plays a much different character but also very emotional and also has the capacity to make one simpatize with her character. This film is a story where a fight for love of one character colides with a lack of willing to live of the other, but the two are important to outcome of the plot. Extraordinary direction and photography of Alante Kavaite, capturing the moments without staying to long in them but also without staying little time in them. Must see