original title:
Last Summer
directed by:
cast:
Rinko Kikuchi, Yorick van Wageningen, Ken Brady, Lucy Griffiths, Laura Sofia Bach, Daniel Ball
screenplay:
Leonardo Guerra Seràgnoli, Igort, Banana Yoshimoto
cinematography:
editing:
set design:
costume design:
music:
Asaf Sagiv
producer:
production:
Jean Vigo Italia, Cinemaundici, Essentia, Rai Cinema, supported by Ministero della Cultura, in association with BNL Gruppo BNP Paribas, with the support of Apulia Film Commission
distribution:
world sales:
country:
Italy
year:
2014
film run:
90'
format:
colour
release date:
30/10/2014
festivals & awards:
A sailing boat is at anchor in a bay off of a Apulian island. Naomi, a young Japanese woman, after having lost custody of her six year-old son, Ken, will be spending her last four days with him on board the boat of her father-in-law. In a hostile environment, Naomi faces the difficulty of approaching Ken under the controlling glare of the crew. Alex notices Naomi’s attempts to connect with Ken and eases his control, entering into conflict with the rest of the crew. When Naomi’s hopes seem lost Ken starts to take an interest in her, thus reducing the distance between them. The crew, in conflict with the captain, informs the boat’s owner. Alex, disobeying his employer’s wishes, takes Naomi and Ken to a beach where they can be alone and bond for the first time. Back on the boat, a timeless day magnifies the weight of their last goodbye and when Ken falls asleep, Naomi must leave. Watching the boat sail away, Naomi sees Ken for one last time wearing the mask she has made for him as a parting gift – the Japanese god of the sea.
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT:
Fourteen years ago, a woman
sat on the couch in my parents’ living room and
burst into tears. She’d come to dinner with some
friends of my mother’s, a total stranger who sobbed
outright in front of people who were strangers to
her. I stayed and watched her from one end of the
room: she said her husband was taking her children
away. This memory, blocked out for years, reemerged
and turned into the story of Last Summer.
I wanted to probe the possibility of a relationship
starting as it ended, and the extreme difficulty of
attempting to reconnect. The power struggle, the
imbalance in social dynamics that makes preserving
one’s identity so hard. An inaccessible microcosm
marked by isolation and coercion, and permeated
with feelings of disorientation and defeat. Then a
cathartic reconciliation between past and present
that allows the two to learn to speak with their own
voices, and be mother and son again, for the first
and last time. A journey during which, when the
obstacles melt away, the mind can let in primary
emotions, and when they last, there’s hope for
changing the course of the future.