All Summers End is a 2018 drama about a teenage boy who falls in love while grappling with his guilty conscience.
Perhaps more than any other genre, the label ‘teen movie’ has become the more divided, with two clear paths of travel, the raucous sex romp and the somber coming-of-age heartbreak. While crossovers exists and variations of the theme are fiddled with, it mostly all comes down to these two choices. Both have their purpose and often do just what they intend, with many terrific entertainment.
Now comes Kyle Wilamowski‘s All Summers End, a film firmly in the latter of the two above though toys with the first in a more authentic effort. It follows a 16-year-old boy named Conrad Stevens (Tye Sheridan), whose story is told in flashback as he begins his summer once again with his two best friends Hunter (Austin Abrams) and Tim (Ryan Lee), causing minor mischief and general tomfoolery. Like most boys that age, girls are on their minds, and as such, they have a sort of race to see who can get to third base first. Enter Grace Turner (Kaitlyn Dever), a girl with her eye on Conrad, who boldly asks him what he would do if she told him he will be her first love. However, as they take to exploring their feelings, things take a tragic turn, with Conrad cast into a darkness that haunts him long into his future.
Beginning in the present, grown Conrad (Pablo Schreiber) takes us back to his youth as he sees the hints of his past in the eyes of his own son. What Wilamowski captures best is this kind of carefree but awkward existence of life as a sixteen-year-old boy, with the tug-of-war affections of good friends and personal intimacy. There’s some terrific setup with Conrad and his pals that reveal a bond among these boys but more so the small fractures of change that is surely coming. Conrad is ready to make a more meaningful relationship but is torn by his allegiance to his troublesome friends.
However, some of this leads the film into well-worn territory, with peer pressure inciting a prank to go wrong and then an accident that feels a little forced. As a source for guilt, it certainly has its weight, though there is a sort of obvious manipulation to it that is meant to hang over Conrad’s summer that doesn’t strike with the emotional impact intended, even as the cast do great work in pulling all the strings. In truth, just being a teen in love can be hard enough. This extra weight makes All Summers End feel a little ungainly, trying to juggle two stories at once. Because so, it tends to be often oppressively somber.
Sheridan is a terrific young talent, last seen in Steven Spielberg‘s Ready Player One, though this was filmed before that big budget blockbuster. He has this scruffy innocence about him that helps greatly in films like this, lending a character like Conrad a youthful naivety and boyish impudence. Dever is also well-cast, a girl struggling with her own sense of identity while making an important choice. Lastly, I further appreciate Wilamowski’s efforts in keeping the adults true to real life, with Paula Malcomson and Annabeth Gish providing substantial support.
All Summers End is a parable of sorts, a somewhat familiar story of love and loss through the eyes of the young and reflected on years later. It’s a stronger film in the first half than the second, the filmmakers steering the ship into a predictable and safe end. A possible curiosity for fans of Sheridan, this might not have the resonance for any longevity.