Not at all a documentary in the traditional sense, ‘The Best Summer’ is cut from a series of personal recordings captured by filmmaker Tamra Davis, while on tour with bands Sonic Youth, Foo Fighters, Bikini Kill and more during the summer of 1995.
Unlike most documentaries, where archival footage like this would be stitched together with professionally shot interviews, these clips play back to back to back. It’s almost like watching home movies—I guess because it is. Davis rediscovered the footage nearly 30 years after it was shot, while evacuating her Malibu home during the Palisades fires. The closest thing the film features to a traditional sit-down interview are clips of Bikini Kill’s lead vocalist, Kathleen Hanna, informally chatting with fellow bandmates, and asking them about their lives as musicians. Cutting between footage of these bands’ performances (an absolute goldmine, considering how rare it is to have recordings of concerts from that time, in contrast to today,) and clips of the bands traveling together, and killing time between sets, the documentary makes you feel like you’re really there, along for the ride.
Photo Courtesy: Visit Films
The film acts as a time capsule, in a way other documentaries can’t quite capture. For fans of these bands, this intimate look into those they idolize, from a time long since past, must be a dream come true. The Best Summer documents the small moments—when Kathleen Hanna met Adam Horowitz for the first time, unaware that they will go on to be married someday (Even after Hanna had argued at the beginning of the film, that there weren’t any cute boys on the tour,) Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon balancing the rock star life with raising their toddler, Coco, who joined them on this tour (and by extension, in this film,) Even for those, like myself, largely unfamiliar with these bands and their work, there is something special about a project capturing a period in time so succinctly. And despite my lack of familiarity with these artists, The Best Summer was an easy and enjoyable watch—the mark of a well-done documentary.
