THE BEST SUMMER Documentary

After evacuating her home during the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, filmmaker Tamra Davis (the director of scores of music videos, including ‘80s and ‘90s classics from The Smiths, The Bangles, the Indigo Girls, Young MC, Tone Löc and New Kids on the Block, as well as the film BILLY MADISON, starring Adam Sandler) turned her attention to a trove of concert and interview footage she recorded, but never edited together, of the 1995-1996 Summersault tour in Australia that featured the Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Beck, Pavement, Bikini Kill, Rancid, the Amps and the Foo Fighters. The result is a fascinating tour document – capturing part music festival, part summer camp – providing veteran fans a look back, and younger fans a kind of cinematic time travel, to appreciate these artists then in their prime or at the start of their careers. At the time, Davis was married to Mike D of the headlining act the Beastie Boys, filmed across multiple energetic performances of their most iconic songs. The post-punk art rock from Sonic Youth’s “Washing Machine” era plays even bigger in the arena and amphitheater settings seen here. Kathleen Hanna tears it up fronting riot grrrl legends Bikini Kill and also serves as Davis’ onscreen interviewer for her fellow musicians, opening with “what’s your favorite color” basic queries but occasionally delving into more personal revelations. Beck, on the cusp of superstardom, here performs only his acoustic material, and similarly the performances by the Foo Fighters and Rancid glimpse bands on the cusp of multi-platinum-selling careers. “Wowee Zowee”-era Pavement are a marvel to behold, and Kim Deal, best known for her work in the Pixies and The Breeders, fronts her one-time side project the Amps, performing the lovely “Pacer.” Full of joyful, summery energy both onstage and off, Davis’ rescuing of this unique footage from the long-ago ‘90s is cause for celebration. –Todd Hitchcock