San Francisco IndieFest 2025 Coverage
Infinite Summer review
Augmented reality as a gateway drug. Literally.
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
Infinite Summer
Directed by Miguel Llansó
Written by Miguel Llansó
Starring Teele Kaljuvee-O’Brock, Johanna-Aurelia Rosin, Hannah Gross, Ciaron Davies, Denise Moreno and Katariina Unt
Infinite Summer Review
Film festivals are a great place to see some of the weirder or more experimental movies out there. Movies that aren’t made through a studio system with several hands in the cookie jar looking for ways to maximize crossover appeal or whatever phrase they use to justify placing commerce above all. I’m not totally knocking it…making something a lot of people will want to see isn’t exactly rooted in a bad notion. Even if it is driven by the bottom line and not a creator’s vision. Bankable directors are few and far between for large studios…Christopher Nolan can get anything he wants bankrolled because his name is a draw. That’s not the norm, however.
Horror has found a nice niche for talented filmmakers who can make do with the budget of a large independent or mid-major-type studio. Robert Eggers has gotten some meaty budgets from Focus Features…because his name is a draw in genre circles. That worked out well with Nosferatu. Not so much with his non-horror entry The Northman. But Eggers can get into theaters nationwide. He attracts well-known, high-quality actors. And he no longer needs to peddle his work on the festival circuit.
The festival circuit is where you’ll find creative types whose name doesn’t automatically mean a theatrical release. You’ll see a lot of directors presenting their first features…plenty of do-it-yourself creativity. You’ll also find extremely talented creators who have gotten positive notices in the past…and aren’t interested in conforming their work into anything easily sellable to a mass audience. Such is the case with Miguel Llansó’s third feature film, Infinite Summer.
Miguel Llansó’s previous feature, Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway, became something of an immediate cult classic. Or…whatever is just under cult classic. It’s a wild movie that you won’t forget…if you ever saw it. Infinite Summer is a much calmer movie than Jesus Show You the Way to the Highway. But it’s still weird. It almost feels like two movies about the same story…with the second half of the film opening the world up to a larger scale.
The first half of Infinite Summer is about three friends who experiment with a new chemical meditation device. Mia (Teele Kaljuvee-O’Brock) brings the device into their lives when a potential date named Ivo (or his pseudonym Dr. Mindfulness) introduces it to her. The two meet through an augmented reality extreme dating app…and he tracks her down in a way that is not at all insane and terrifying. It’s interesting that Infinite Summer roots its inciting incident in augmented reality…a technology that we have now which feels futuristic in the time it exists in. The movie follows up by presenting a piece of tech that feels not too far off…only this one comes with unexpected, and unexplainable, consequences.
Meditation is all about reaching “higher planes”. Dr. Mindfulness’s respirator mindfulness app controls your breathing while introducing a chemical mixture that helps you achieve those higher planes. Literally. What begins as a collection of trippy visuals ends in an unexplainable phenomenon.
This is when Infinite Summer opens its narrative up to a larger scale…though probably not in the way you think. You’d assume that Llansó would use the setup to deliver a wild second half set on whatever plane of existence the user has gone too. Instead, we see how the world reacts. Focus shifts to police agencies investigating the event. Mia remains to anchor us to the story but her quiet summer becomes a part of a procedural investigation. But those higher planes are calling to her.
Infinite Summer is a confident work that remains enjoyable to watch through its change in scope. It’s a high-quality production with strong performances, fun visuals and unique concepts. Even when it isn’t making complete sense. You know…the kind of movie you’d find at film festival.
Scare Value
Director Miguel Llansó was already one of the more interesting independent filmmakers out there. Infinite Summer is another fascinating work. It’s the kind of movie that will befuddle you at times…but will keep you engaged always. Hopefully it doesn’t take another five years to see what Llansó does next. Whatever it is…I’m fairly positive we’ll be seeing it on the festival circuit. I mean that as a compliment.
