Finally, on the last weekend of the festival someone dares to go full Euro-gay and have a love scene on a pontoon. I'm surprised it took so long, tbh.
To be fair, Summer of Sangailė gets a free pass because it is the first queer film to come out of Lithuania and that's a lot of years with pent up pontoon filming to release. And it is kinda sexy.
The young defloweree getting her pontoon on in this outing is the titular Sangailė (Julija Steponaityte). She's visiting the lake for the summer, staying in the family holiday house. The deflowerer, Austė (Aistė Diržiūtė), is a local girl, who throws her a lottery prize and an invite to visit her for cake at the local power plant cafeteria. She knows how to show a girl a good time.
Alantė Kavaitė picked up a directing gong for this at this year's Sundance Film Fest for this. Possibly she was riding on the hem of the more substantial (though more exploitative) Blue is the Warmest Colour. I found Summer of Sangailė a little breathless in its take on young love. There's a lot of prettiness to deal with (fairy lights in tutus in fields of wheat at sunset, and all that) but not too much underneath - a tilt at depression adds a some interest but not enough to give the film any defining purpose.
Good crack though, Lithuania. You're already streets ahead of Poland.
★★☆
Trailer:
The Summer of Sangailė screened as part of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival 2016.
You can check out other films from the festival here.
You can check out other films from the festival here.
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