An advice to many actors trying to go into directing would be: Stay in front of the camera! This could well be what one would wish Antonio Banderas, a performer that has enjoyed a good career both in his native Spain and in America. His directorial debut, "Crazy in Alabama" was not the success we are sure he expected. With his new film "El camino de los ingleses", or "Summer Rain", the English title, will not add anything for his resume. We could suggest that Mr. Banderas keeps his daytime job where he has done well.Mr. Banderas working with the Antonio Soler novel, which we have not read, goes back to the not too distant past to Malaga, his birth place, with a story that is confusing, at best, because this story of coming of age does not go anywhere the way it is presented on the screen. One had all the intentions of enjoying it, but the story is simply too local to transcend into audiences of other countries.The most interesting of the different friends that hang out together is Barbirusa, a confused young man that has to come to grips with reality when he visits his mother in London, only to realize she is a prostitute working the sex trade in an explicit way. Miguelito, the young man who falls for Luli, gets our attention, at times. He has an awakening to sex with an older teacher.One can only hope Mr. Banderas finds better material when he decides to try his hand at directing again, and to keep it simple. A lot of would be directors like to go for an artistic look that frankly doesn't add anything to what they are trying to present. That seems to be what happened to Mr. Banderas with his second film.

First of all, this is the first Antonio Banderas film I've ever seen. It never crossed my mind that he could be a great director. I loved his vision; and he gained my respect for making such a beautiful film. I was blown-away, I really was.The dialogue was sublime and 'clever'; and let's take into account that the screenwriter was Antonio Soler himself, author of the homonymous book, El Camino de los Ingleses. Never thought that the dialogue could be so strongly poetic and passionate and therefore I was touched by it. I think that the voice-over was absolutely necessary and never found it annoying. It didn't bother me, as opposed to others. The acting was superb. They all were convincing and true to themselves and to the film. They all delivered a great performance; especially Raul Arevalo (Babirusa), which I must admit, he was my favourite of all. He managed to transmit a great feeling to the film. I believed him; **(here's the spoiler)** particularly when he's burning his magazines and he tells Miguelito that they're the type of people who don't forget, that they're the type who get their precious belongings and burn them.** You'll understand it better if you watch this film.The photography was completely breath-taking and awe-inspiring; the landscape (Malaga--Bandera's place of birth), the use of vivid colors, angles, pretty much everything was magnificent. The music was great, too, and very inspirational. The score was composed by Antonio Melieveo, in case you needed to know.I felt that El Camino de los Ingleses is, perhaps, the most honest work of the director. I could see that he delivered not only a great work, but passion and the best of intentions.Hope you enjoy it, (and play close attention). Thanks!(Uh, this is my first time posting a review for a film, so I hope you forgive me for not writing an exceptional one.)

Summer Rain , The English road or as the original title say "El camino de los ingleses " is a movie that takes artistic risks and of course that lead to mistakes . In the good part of things we have very good performances of the cast , great photography and a risky director . The screenplay is not conventional and the movie is almost experimental in parts but ... so what ? I agree with some reviews .Sometimes the narrator or voice over is used to much . But I think this movie don't try to fit in the conventional movie storytelling and it's not looking to be the mtv movie awards new sensation. But it's telling the story of young people in Malaga,Spain in the 70s trying to find their place in their world. I give it 7.

The beginning was interesting and promising. Dreamy and surreal. Great. BUT as the story progressed, it became an endless free fall. The use of voice over is too extensive (Somebody should teach Mr. Banderas about the value of silence. Not everything has to be blatantly explained) and tiring (even corny sometimes) and the script is simply ridiculous. It pretends to be intense and dramatic but it goes overboard towards the end, stripping it off of any dramatic feeling. It's laughable when it's supposed to be sad and it's unbelievable when it's supposed to be serious. Too bad for the actors, who deliver a good performance, in spite of such awful script. The photography is well done. But these two factors alone won't add up to a decent movie. That's why I rate it 1-awful.