Smart, sexy and funny, The Summer with Carmen is a charming, sun-baked movie set in Athens which premiered at this year’s BFI Flare LGBTQIA+ film festival.
The film begins on Athens’ gay beach, where best friends Demostheneos and Nikitas brainstorm ideas for a screenplay. The pair recall the events of the summer where Demostheneos parted ways with his boyfriend Panos, and somehow gained a dog named Carmen. The film switches back and forth between this conversation on the rocky Athens shore, and flashbacks to the actual events of the summer in question or rather, perhaps, flashforwards to the finished film.
There are some brilliantly witty moments which play with this idea of a film within a film. Aspiring filmmaker Nikitas lists the rules of making a movie on a budget. Not working with animals is there on the list, as they can often interrupt the shooting schedule and rarely do what they’re told. That poses a bit of a problem when the film they are thinking of making revolves around an adorable dog. The solution? Nikitas says he’ll come up with ways to keep Carmen out of shot, and this is followed by a series of scenes in which Carmen is heard but not seen in the film, a bark here, a whine there, with characters talking to the dog who is, allegedly, just off camera.
There’s a lot going on here. Co-writer and director Zacharias Mavroeidis has crafted a film that explores, among other things, masculinity, what it means to love, friendship and filmmaking. It could indeed be argued there’s a little too much packed into the 106 min running time, but the film is bold, brash and playful enough to even recognise this, going so far as to list the film’s messages at the end.
Andreas Labropoulos (as Nikitas) and Yorgos Tsiantoulas (Demostheneos) are both brilliant. Tsiantoulas in particular gives a clever, nuanced, performance – desperate to not show emotion when confronted with his ex’s rejection and his mother’s cold dismissal. The scene when he finally crumbles thanks to the connection he has with Carmen is heart-breaking. The gentleman also has a very fine arse, which gets a lot of screen time.
The Summer with Carmen will be released later in the year via Peccadillo Pictures.
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