Were it not for the presence in the cast of two
extraordinary actors, the pretentious tearjerker Echoes of a Summer would be of less than negligible interest.
Adapted by Robert L. Joseph from his play The
Isle of Children, this talkfest is filled with fanciful wordplay, whimsical
contrivances, and preteens who speak with absurd eloquence. Joseph contrives a
universe in which people articulate their feelings “poetically,” so the
characters in Echoes of a Summer are
as likely to express themselves through esoteric historical references as they
are through meticulously crafted metaphors. And while Joseph occasionally hits
the bull’s-eye with a line that conveys some simple emotional truth, getting
there requires slogging through lots of florid nonsense. As a result, watching Echoes of a Summer quickly grows
tiresome—unless one surrenders to the very different pleasures offered by the
work of the two stars, Jodie Foster and Richard Harris.
Foster plays a
12-year-old girl facing imminent death because of heart problems, and Harris
plays her anguished father, a professional writer who buys a lake house so his
daughter’s last summer on earth is peaceful. Foster, who was already a veteran
child actor by the time she made this film, delivers confident and sensitive
work that embellishes her status as one of the most impressive youth performers
ever to work in Hollywood. Even though her character is preternaturally sophisticated, Foster makes the role feel as organic as possible by tapping
into her own natural intelligence—and if her acting never tugs at the
heartstrings, per se, that’s a compliment to the good taste she exhibits, since
Foster never takes cheap emotional shots for schmaltzy effect. Harris, meanwhile,
provides the opposite of realism, opting instead for grandiose romanticism.
Brooding around the film’s lovely Nova Scotia locations while reciting poetry,
singing, and spinning imaginative stories for the amusement of Foster’s
character, Harris incarnates a Superdad who devotes his life to filling each of
his little girl’s final moments with laughter and wonderment. Whether
this characterization comes across as endearing or overbearing is entirely a
matter of taste, but none would dispute the assertion that Harris attacks his
role with gusto.
Given the film’s focus on an intense father-daughter
connection, it falls to poor costar Lois Nettleton, playing the mother of the
story’s central family, to function as the de facto villain, a woman mired in
denial and depression. The process of bringing Nettleton’s character around to
grace (a word sprinkled liberally through the movie’s dialogue) is highly
contrived, culminating in a silly final scene of a play-within-a-play presented
for the benefit of the dying girl. Despite its sincere intentions, alas, Echoes of a Summer is ultimately as
affected and trite as the awful theme song that plays over the opening and
closing credits, written and sung (if that’s the right word) by Harris.
Echoes
of a Summer: FUNKY
