THE JEWISH CHRONICLE

The seedy and squalid inner-city Liverpool that is the setting for Dark Summer (12, Prince Charles) is far removed from the suburban coziness of "Brookside," and yet the film's story line is altogether less lurid. Little happens, except for meeting and parting, love and death, all played in low-key. This independent film, a first feature written, directed and produced by Charles Teton, recounts one summer in the lives of young lovers Jess (Joeline Garner-Joel), who is white and middle class, and Abe (Steve Ako), black and working-class. While he trains as a boxer and looks for a job, she prepares the nursery for their coming baby. Then follow a miscarriage, and the breakdown of their relationship. The film is really a fragment, muted in style and sparing of dialogue, and yet it has a tenderness and delicacy that augur well for the futures of all concerned.

Pamela Melnikoff