The Summer of All My Parents

Originally released as July-August, the clunky-titled The Summer of All My Parents follows two teen sisters who are shuffled between divorced parents over the course of a summer. The film opens with 14-year-old Laura (Luna Lou) setting ablaze an apartment building mailbox before heading out into the streets of Paris to wander while smoking cigarettes. But the sense of rebellious spiritedness is quickly abandoned as the film follows Laura and her older sister Josephine (Alma Jodorowsky) to France's sunny Mediterranean coast, where they spend a month with their mother and stepfather in a rundown house (that is also huge and extravagant) before joining their father for the remainder of the summer in his home along the cold, grey northern shores of Brittany. Along the way, the not-quite-nuclear family members experience situations that strain relationships, but ultimately bring them together—from a surprise pregnancy to a ridiculous jewel heist subplot. The Summer of All My Parents wants to be a quirky coming-of-age film, but fails due to a languid pace and predictable story that robs it of any forward momentum and prevents any sort of emotional connection to the characters. The one saving grace is Lou as the younger sister harboring misunderstood rage, but it's not enough to save the film. Optional. (P. Morehart)