My Late Summer

There are two popular theories about the etymology of Prvić, a Croatian island in the Šibenik archipelago. The first theory relates to its closest proximity to the mainland in the archipelago: “prvi” means “first” in Serbo-Croatian. The second, and much more fun, theory relates to a name for an old Croatian god of spring, Prvić or Prvina. (At least, these are what the tourism sites claim.) The island is as close to a utopia as the pure natural features of an island can get. The red and white residential architecture of Croatian seaside homes is expectedly reminiscent of the buildings of Dubrovnik, the Southern Croatian city used for King’s Landing in HBO’s Game of Thrones. The strong summer blue of the ocean strikes against the white walls and red roofs. In the 20th century, the island earned itself a long and proud anti-fascist streak, and the monuments left behind reflect that. Today, it’s a car-less island of fewer than 500 people and the setting for the premier Bosnian director Danis Tanović’s tenth feature film, My Late Summer (Bosnian: Nakon ljeta). Like the island’s (possible) etymology, the film grounds itself in the changing of seasons.

The funky bunch of characters here could be found in any siloed micro-community, though their quirks are ineffably unique to their setting on the island. Maja (Anja Matković) comes to the island on a journey of self-discovery — what she is discovering takes time to clarify. Matković always looks a bit restless, even trapped in mystery, as Maja’s past weighs heavily on the character’s shoulders. Goran Navojec plays a Tito-nostalgic mayor who doubles as the owner of the local bar and triples as a weed dealer; his ambitions are limited to the creation of a sewage system, a political victory he believes will enshrine him as a hero in local memory. Saša (Uliks Fehmiu), a handsome author whose bed Maja finds comfort in, has enough baggage of his own before meeting the beautiful newcomer. The strangest of them all could be either the stoned cows or the elderly woman who routinely shoots her gun at imaginary fascists.

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