"Late Summer" is an American English-language short film from 2001, so this one had its 15th anniversary last year. The writer and director is David Ottenhouse and this 25-minute film is probably still his easily most known work to date. Same goes for all the cast members probably as none of them have really had a breakthrough on a big scale, with the exception of Charlie Day from "Always Sunny" who plays a small supporting role in here. This is as so many other gay-themed short films a little movie about sexual awakening. It's the story of a teenage boy who spends the summer with his slightly older cousin and discovers what he really wants. Or so we are supposed to believe because it is included on "Boys Life", namely edition 5 and this is probably also the reason why this film has not turned into oblivion in the last almost two decades. I think it's a bit too melodramatic for its own good at the end, but hey stuff like that happens (always out of nowhere) and at least they kept it somewhat realistic before that, also in terms of the cousin's sexuality. This is nothing you can say about most gay-themed short films sadly. So yeah it's better than many others of these, but still not good enough to let me recommend it and I am not too sad or too surprised to see that Ottenhouse has not made another film since 2001 and is possibly retired, at least in terms of film now. Not one component from this slightly under half an hour made me wanting for more. I give it a thumbs-down. Not recommended.
Review of Late Summer
