That Summer
Sundance Selects | Release Date: May 18, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
62
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 11 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
IndieWireJude DryMay 18, 2018
If the deliciously grainy archival footage were the only thing That Summer had to offer, it would be enough. But by including Beard and Radziwill’s introspective voiceovers, Swedish director Göran Hugo Olsson (“The Black Power Mixtape”) creates a nostalgic meditation that touches on both cultural and historical memory. Read full review
80
TheWrapDan CallahanMay 15, 2018
Once the film turns itself over to the footage of Big Edie and Little Edie Beale, this movie comes into its own as a fascinating companion piece and prequel to the Maysles Brothers film. Read full review
80
VarietyJay WeissbergApr 5, 2018
Almost exclusively composed of 16mm footage shot in 1972 and lost until now, Göran Hugo Olsson’s fascinating documentary recounts the summer when Lee Radziwill and photographer Peter Beard decided to record Radziwill’s reclusive aunt and first cousin, hiring the Maysles and shooting in and around Grey Gardens while workers fixed the place up. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 21, 2018
The lack of organization keeps this from being a complete film, or a great one. That Summer is a footnote to “Grey Gardens.” But for those wholly engrossed in the history, the tragedy and the “real Beales,” before “Grey Gardens” set their personas in stone and made them immortal, it’s a fascinating artifact and another piece of the puzzle of who they were before the caricatures took over. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinMay 24, 2018
At its best, That Summer proves an effective time capsule aimed squarely at Beale devotees, adding light and context to the saga of this endlessly baffling and singularly captivating mother-daughter duo. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiMay 18, 2018
The major problem with That Summer is the inescapable fact that it only barely qualifies as a movie. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineEric HendersonMay 17, 2018
The makers of this rescued-footage documentary ultimately understand the power of its subjects' personalities. Read full review
60
The New York TimesGlenn KennyMay 17, 2018
That Summer, a new documentary directed by Goran Hugo Olsson, sheds further light on the Beales with footage shot before the making of “Grey Gardens.” Read full review
60
Village VoiceTatiana CraineMay 16, 2018
Offhandedly, in a movie that itself is offhanded to a fault, Little Edie cuts to the core of the whole Grey Gardens phenomenon during one of her moments alone with the camera. “[To] dig up the past, I think, is about the most cruel thing anybody can do.” Read full review
50
Screen DailyWendy IdeMay 17, 2018
This doesn’t entirely work as a self contained entity; the interest and value to audiences is mainly in the background detail it gives to the story of Grey Gardens. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonJul 6, 2018
That Summer leaves me with Beale fatigue. It would seem to appeal to “Grey Gardens” completists only. Read full review
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