As the summer sun beats down on Berlin, Leonie Krippendorff explores the uncontrollable heat of adolescence with a delicate yet vibrant portrait of youth in Cocoon. Meanwhile, a remote lakeside house in Australia serves as the backdrop for sexual awakening and belonging in a dream-like fairy tale that can’t last in Katie Found’s My First Summer.
Sometimes, one long, hot summer is all it takes to change everything as we emerge from our childhood cocoon into the far more challenging world of adolescence. Fourteen-year-old Nora (Lena Urzendowsky) looks up to her older sister, Jule (Lena Klenke) and her alcohol-fuelled social circle. However, when a new girl arrives at school, Romy (Jella Haase), Nora finds herself suddenly experiencing a whole host of new, scary and confusing feelings. But as Nora’s connection to Romy grows, her relationship with her sister fades, causing sisterly concern. But can Romy offer Nora more than just a sexual awakening in a summer where desire meets change in an explosion of sexuality and love?
Cocoon shines as brightly as the sun beating down on Berlin, with Krippendorff beautifully reflecting the urgency of teenage transformation as we embark on a raw, honest journey alongside Nora, Romy and Jule. Here, the fear and apprehension of emerging sexuality are laced with moments of pure joy, excitement and freedom, paying homage to Show Me Love, and Blue is the Warmest Colour in tone.
The cinematography of Martin Neumeyer bathes each scene in the soft glow of summer and the warmth of hope and rebirth. At the same time, the use of cooler colours explores the isolation and loneliness of inner-city life for so many teens as they discover themselves and their identity. The delicate yet bold direction of Leonie Krippendorff sees Cocoon excel at exploring youth culture, multiculturalism, and sexuality, offering us a timeless yet fresh movie that pulses with the energy, disappointment, and vitality of youth.
Also reflecting the power of a midsummer sun to illuminate new experiences and new paths is writer/director Katie Found, who opens her haunting debut feature, My First Summer, with ageing police tape flapping in the summer breeze around a lake, evoking a tragic past event that still resonates in the present. It is an event sixteen-year-old Claudia (Markella Kavenagh) remembers well, and one that will lead her to Grace (Maiah Stewardson), a girl who has grown up in isolation, with no one but Claudia aware of her existence. But will their self-built sanctuary from the adult world and the rules it conveys be threatened by discovery?
There is pure magic to be found and cherished in Katie Found’s beautiful exploration of a private world of teenage experience built on a summer of discovery, friendship and love.
In Found’s secret garden, two girls find each other as the sun beats down in a movie that echoes the sun-soaked beauty of Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name. Like Call Me By Your Name, My First Summer also explores the trauma of first love and the pain of our first sexual feelings and connections, as Claudia finds healing in Grace, and Grace finds freedom and liberation in Claudia. Here, two free spirits join in a blaze of colour and experimentation that glows with a unique, otherworldly charm.
At the heart of this delicate yet haunting tale are the outstanding performances of Kavenagh and Stewardson, both capturing the innocence of teenage emotions, the strength of adolescent friendship and the power of teenage dreams. My First Summer is a stunning directorial debut that plays out like an exquisite fairy tale, before reminding us how fragile fairy tales, teenage love, and dreams can be.
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