Three Summers

Three Summers [2017] is a cute little Aussie film, set in Western Australia at a fictional music festival called ‘The Westival’. It follows the lives of some very different characters and how they change and evolve over three summers.

From The Bay to Hollywood to WA. Rebecca Breeds stars as one of two main characters, she’s a fiddle-playing square dancer in the band ‘The Warrakins’, with her dad (played by John Waters) and his mates. Starting in Australian shows like Home and Away and Blue Water High, Breeds has come along way now starring in American hits like Pretty Little Liars and The Originals, she definitely has a range of emotion during the film and delivers it well in every scene – a big highlight and great choice for the main role.

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. There are lots of Australian stereotypes in the world, some of them true, and this film could not be more true to them. As a fellow Australian it was an element of familiarity and nostalgia that gave the film light – but to someone from outside of Australia, it gives an insight into life in outback Australia. I loved that element of the film, but more so the fact of it not going too far.

An Arc Bigger Than Uluru. Being set over three years the writers had a lot of time to play with and build in characters and their backstories. During the film, we follow three different plots, but they’re so beautifully simple it didn’t overdo the film. We follow Breeds’ character and her evolving backstory, with the help of her love interest (played by Robert Sheehan), we also follow the life of an older Australian (played by Michael Caton) and his slightly racist ways which are brought to light by a lovely Aboriginal man as well as his Granddaughter – which brings us to the third main storyline which follows her and her journey of helping find herself in a world of racism and love and inhumanity.

Cheap Short Shot. Although a beautifully shot film, with gorgeous outback Australia as the scenery, I was starting to get a slight headache at the majority of the shallow depth of field shots. Such beautiful setting doesn’t really need to be blurred out so much and it was a let down to such a lovely film.

With a light comedic storyline and a heavy heartfelt message behind each storyline and carried through to each summer, I highly recommend this film for a good laugh and a couple of tears.