Davis spends ‘The Best Summer’ with Beastie Boys and friends

Cinema | February 9th, 2026

By Greg Carlson

For the Generation X members obsessed with the incredible 90s music scene that gave us everything from the DIY exuberance of riot grrrl founding mothers Bikini Kill, to the noisy NYC no wave of Sonic Youth, to the evolutionary enlightenment transforming the Beastie Boys from bratty hip-hop pranksters to socially conscious elder statesmen, filmmaker Tamra Davis has something special in store for us. Not a lot of good came from the 2025 Palisades Fire, but one silver lining was the rescue of a box of Hi8 tapes shot by Davis during the 1995 Summersault tour featuring the mighty trio of outfits mentioned above, as well as Pavement, Beck, Foo Fighters, Rancid and the Amps.

Thirty years later, Davis organizes and assembles the footage she recorded into “The Best Summer,” a perfect moment-in-time travelogue/diary/concert movie with enough no-pressure, behind-the-scenes home video joy to win the hearts of a new generation of fans waiting to discover some of the records loved by their parents (and, heaven help us, grandparents). Already a veteran music video director at the time of the tour, Davis spins gold from her stageside vantage, making absolute magic with her Sony’s built-in microphone and the rig’s approximate 400 lines of resolution. Brilliant color and sound, indeed.

Throughout “The Best Summer,” Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna serves as a steady on-camera presence, using her gifts for interaction to draw fellow musicians into frequently revealing conversation. By the launch of the Summerault experience, Davis had already directed Hanna in the memorable clip for Sonic Youth’s “Bull in the Heather” and the short documentary “No Alternative Girls.” In a way that will resonate with and excite devoted admirers, “The Best Summer” feels in part like the discovery of a previously missing segment in that particular chapter of Hanna’s career. One of the movie’s motifs is a running account of the books being read by band members. Her genuine curiosity reinforces Hanna’s brilliance as our host and our guide.

In addition to the literary round-up, Hanna’s standard questions investigating the good and the bad of live performance and the conundrum of creating a stage persona versus sharing an authentic self lead to thought-provoking responses. All of these snapshots, which include chats with Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Stephen Malkmus, Dave Grohl, Beck and others, stir up heady nostalgia punctuated by bittersweet and bitter changes wrought by time. The suicide of Kurt Cobain, still being processed by his friends when Summersault took place, is an elephant in the room. Gordon and Moore would finalize their divorce in 2013. Davis and Mike D have been separated for years. Adam Yauch died in 2012.

But Davis calls the movie “The Best Summer” for a reason. Golden sunshine radiates from the scene in which a flirtatious Hanna interrogates a nervous Ad-Rock at the genesis of their romantic relationship. They are still together. And performances of “Winnebago,” “Radio,” “Girl Dreams,” “Washing Machine,” “Elevate Me Later,” “Pacer,” “Sabotage,” and many others will leave you scrambling to warm up your turntable or build your playlist. I really hope Davis finds a way to bring the movie from Sundance to a physical media release so our best summer can last all year long.

Reach HPR film critic Greg Carlson at gregcarlson1@gmail.com.

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