A year after losing her father, teenager Summer falls for a football star, coming to learn about both herself and her late father in the process, in writer/director Divine Sung’s sensitive coming-of-age drama Summer’s Camera.
You will hear the shutter click
by Chris DrewSummer’s Camera
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
Quiet teen Summer (Kim Sia, feature debut) is a keen photographer but is resistant to finishing the final roll of film on her late father’s camera.
When Summer finds herself unexpectedly drawn to Yeonwoo, the idol of the school’s football team, she feels compelled to take her picture.
Yeonwoo’s introduction is akin to a sporting Regina George (Mean Girls) with her adoring fans and tales of how it took three people to carry her birthday presents.
Collecting the photographs, Summer is surprised to find a number of the shots featuring the same man. She tracks down caring hairstylist Maru and over a number of meetings is shocked to learn he was her father’s lover.
A heavier-handed film may have included a confrontation with her mother, about Maru’s place in her father’s life, but Summer recognises how much her mother is struggling with her grief, which appears to be motivation not to raise the issue at this stage.
The dual central narratives see Summer and Yeonwoo gently entering into the early stages of a relationship while Summer deals with both her grief and the revelation about her Father.
Summer discovers more about her father through Maru, and soon sees him as someone she can trust and uses him for advice about her relationship.
All the expected elements of a first crush are depicted – seeing someone in slow motion, the first conversation, the touch of a hand, being asked out, the awkward-at-first first date and the lead-in to the first kiss.
The landmark coming-out moments are also movingly present: first with Summer’s best friend – who confirms she knew because Summer rarely photographed guys – and later to her mother.
Summer is rarely without an enormous red rucksack which serves as a neat metaphor for the weight of the grief, her mother later commenting that it feels lighter.
The performances are strong across the board, particularly Kim Sia, who captures Summer’s innocence and sweetness while nailing the various complex emotions she goes through.
Reflecting the huge importance of photographs and memories in the grief process, Summer’s Camera will perhaps be one of the very few films in 2025 to highlight the almost religious anticipation of collecting a reel of film.
Gorgeously scored and shot, writer and director Sung crafts a beautiful portrayal of achingly sweet first love, the crushing feeling of first heartbreak and the complex journey of bereavement.
Summer’s Camera screened as a World Premiere on 24 March 2025 at the 2025 BFI Flare Festival.
