Review: MY SUMMER AS A GOTH (2020)
“My Summer as a Goth” should be essential viewing for anyone who over-romanticized “Twilight.”
It plays like a low-stakes episode of “Degrassi,” which isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it would play well as a double feature with modern Netflix rom-coms like “The Kissing Booth,” even if it has something on it’s mind besides romance.
The death of Joey’s father has driven a wedge between her and her mother. Since mom has to go on tour to promote her bestselling book, she sends Joey to stay with her kooky grandparents for the summer. Morose Joey is still reeling from her dad’s death, so it’s no surprise that she falls for Victor, the goth grandson of her grandparents’ friends. Their meet-cute happens after she sees him put a noose around his neck. For a performance piece, which he claims is for him, but faces out his window. Ain’t that sweet? Victor and his friends give her a goth makeover and before you can say “Bela Lugosi’s Dead,” they’re dancing in a graveyard.
Joey & Victor
Director Tara Johnson-Medinger and her co-writer Brandon Lee Roberts understand the pull of alternative subcultures, especially during times of profound loss. She also understands that beneath the black and white aesthetic, there are tons of red flags. Victor is a giant asshole. At first, one can see the appeal from a teenage girl’s perspective, but Victor shows himself to be the opposite of a manic pixie dreamgirl: a dour demon fuckboi. He’s dismissive, condescending, and it feels more like he’s grooming Joey than showing her his world. When he takes her to a “real goth” party, the hostess he’s friends with is introduced as having the town’s best mortuary. What’s a baby bat to do when the red flags keep piling up?
Natalie Shershow does a good job carrying the film as Joey, and Jack Levis makes you want to see other aspects of Victor, at least until you realize what a scumbag his character is. The whole cast is game, and the aforementioned grandparents are as clichéd as they are endearing (Wha-oh! Grampa’s cooking nude again!). There’s even a “punk” character (Eduardo Reyes) who’s introduced as a foil for the goths, but even he’s not without endearing surprises.
The movie deserves credit for not being the love story you might think it is, but rather a journey of self-discovery for someone who REALLY needs it. “My Summer as a Goth” is a fitting title because it anticipates the way Joey will tell this story someday: as a wistful phase when she was “going through some stuff.”
123 Go Films will release My Summer as a Goth on DirecTV and other On Demand platforms on November 11, 2020.
Check out www.123gofilms.com for more.
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