Tribeca Festival 2024: "Griffin in Summer"
A winning yet distressing portrait of unrequited love with a star-making performance from Everett Blunck.
At least once in our lives, we’ve had an experience with unrequited love. As unfortunate as it already is, it can especially be difficult when you go through that experience as a queer adolescent. During a time of confusion where one’s just beginning to figure things out, pining for someone who’s either much older, only sees you as a friend, or doesn’t identify with the same orientation can cause more chaos and heartbreak. Such messiness is the basis of the coming-of-age dramedy Griffin in Summer, the Best U.S. Narrative Feature winner at this year’s Tribeca Festival.
Everett Blunck stars as the titular playwright in Nicholas Colia’s “Griffin in Summer.” (Photo courtesy of Tribeca Festival)
14-year-old theater kid Griffin Nafly (Everett Blunck in a star-making role) has his sights set on Broadway. Normally, kids around his age probably take part in plays like Annie. Instead, he has a vision of writing a play titled “Regrets of Autumn” that’s said to be like Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? meets American Beauty. As he tries bringing his vision to life over the course of summertime, he experiences growing pains ranging from friction between Kara (Abby Ryder Fortson), his best friend and the director of his play who goes away for vacation, to his newfound crush on Brad (Owen Teague), a directionless handyman who helps around his family’s house.
Once Griffin and Brad become closer, Griffin ends up helping re-shape Brad’s passion for acting after struggling to make it as a performance artist in New York City. In what is his best performance yet in his ascending career, Owen Teague conveys charm and subdued vulnerability as a man drifting his way through his mundane suburban life. Meanwhile, Everett Blunck is outstanding as the titular Griffin. The anxieties of trying to tell one’s crush how you feel and the angst to grow up while being initially unaware of the harshness of adulthood Blunck showcases are all distressingly yet amazingly authentic. Even when Griffin acts chipper the way a precocious teen can be, Blunck avoids going into caricature territory.
Surrounding Blunck and Teague is a splendid supporting cast including Abby Ryder Fortson who wowed audiences last year in the coming-of-age dramedy, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.. With just her eyes, Fortson shows Kira’s struggle between going along with Griffin’s chaotic altering plans for the play and wanting to be honest with him the way a best friend should be. Plus, Kathryn Newton provides hilarity as Brad’s ditzy girlfriend Chloe and, between this and Abigail, proves she should be cast in more comedies. Lastly, there’s Emmy nominee/acting treasure Melanie Lynskey who does wonders with her supporting role as Griffin’s loving mother, Helen.
The veracious performances by the ensemble give the film its veracity along with the screenplay even if it becomes a strenuous film-watching experience. Between the heartbeat sounds heard as Griffin experiences his adolescent awakening and the looming sense of crisis as he becomes attached to his nonreciprocal crush, Griffin in Summer becomes as stressful and as it is humorous. Through slight humor and distress, Griffin in Summer effectively navigates painful truths about adolescence and is a promising feature directorial debut from writer/director Nicholas Colia.
Grade: A
Griffin in Summer is still currently seeking U.S. distribution.