What a waste of my time!!!

Best movie ever!

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

First of all, I apologize for using this space to submit a request about this film's soundtrack, rather than writing a review on the film itself. Nevertheless, I would like to comment briefly on the story and the photography: The story is interesting and even though there is no plot as such, the love relationship developed between the two girls (main characters) in the film is portrayed in a spontaneous and natural fashion that I found particularly appealing. The photography and the scenery settings, especially those shot on very high places (the high voltage pylon and the plane performing acrobatics) are breathtaking. I don't remember having seen any Lithuanian movies before, and watching this film was a very valuable opportunity for me to get a glimpse of the culture in that country. Now, what I found extraordinarily beautiful is the music in the film, most especially, a fragment that I would like to know whether it is part of the original soundtrack or whether it was taken from another composer (Tchaikovsky, perhaps?)'s musical piece. On one of the occasions this brief musical piece is heard, it occurs approximately 15 minutes before the end credits. I would appreciate if somebody could enlighten me on this point.

Sangaile is a 17 year old girl in love with acrobatic planes but is afraid of heights. She is lonely and cuts herself. She befriends Auste who lives nearby. Auste photographs Sangaile in her fashion designs and the two begin a summer romance. Auste helps Sangaile gain confidence to take flight.The photography is dreamy. The girls are waif-like. The plot is thin. The drama is limited. The intensity is low. This Lithuanian indie provides another entry into the lesbian teen genre. The plane flying and vertigo could have been interesting but the movie fails to give it the visual effect. The teen girl angst is done as expected but nothing more. This is barely a pass.

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

Me and 2 of my friends all agree on a few things about this: 1) The lack of plot and substance for the characters really make this movie feel bland and renders all interactions extremely forced 2) The romanticization of self harm is very distasteful 3) This movie tried really hard to be deep and artistic, but, again, just came out super forced. Nothing seemed natural.We were all watching it together - one friend was trying really hard to stay awake and we just sat there kind of rolling our eyes the entire time. We had to quit it half way because of the scene where they decided to cut themselves together. It just left such a bad taste in our mouths. I decided to finish watching it on my own and it didn't get better. It felt like almost nothing happened in this movie - the most character development happened in the last 20 minutes and even that had a time gap of 2 years. I had really high hopes for this - it looked full of potential and I was super excited about the LGBT representation (in a movie from my country, like, wow!!), but was kind of left disappointed - it just was not executed well. Maybe I missed the point of the movie? The message it was trying to get across? Whatever the case, it wasn't the most enjoyable thing I've seen. I'm sad I feel about it this way.At least every shot was very pretty.