THE PLOT THUS FAR
A sweeping romance set at a bohemian artist colony on the picturesque coast of pre-war England, SUMMER IN FEBRUARY is based on the true story of painter Sir Alfred Munnings (Dominic Cooper, Captain America) and his blue-blood best friend Gilbert (Dan Stevens, Downton Abbey). Munnings rises to become one of the premier artists of his time, winning the affection of beauty Florence Carter-Wood (Emily Browning, Pompeii). But when Gilbert falls for Florence as well, a love triangle emerges with tragic consequences.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“Summer in February” will change the way that you look at British artists’ colonies. A woman arrives and this sets the artistic men into fits of rage, as they use their talents to brow beat the woman into submission. Eventually, someone kills themselves and everything goes all mopey. Seriously, you could have a depressing movie cliche drinking game for this movie. But, that would probably require more effort than I’m willing to expend.
Dan Stevens does amazing work in this movie. However, I don’t recognize the guy outside of Downton Abbey and that Night at the Museum 3 trailer. While most of the characters seem indifferent to each other, Dan Stevens tries to give the audience something to hang their hat on. Unfortunately, it’s a wasted effort as the movie wants to keep things so dour that you struggle to finish it. Art films usually never end well, especially if there’s a degree of history to them. So, why do I keep watching them? Well, that’s a damn good question and I’m out of time.
The DVD comes with an interview as the sole special feature. The A/V Quality is typical for a standard definition drama. The transfer has small bits of noise, but that’s typical. The same goes for the Dolby Surround track. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to the curious.
RELEASE DATE: 08/12/2014
