Why 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' Fans Are Buzzing over Christopher Briney's 'The Julia Set'

Catch up with Why 'The Summer I Turned Pretty' Fans Are Buzzing over Christopher Briney's 'The Julia Set'. Explore expert viewpoints in full detail.

The film shifts Briney away from seaside yearning and drops him into cutthroat competitive academia. In The Julia Set, Chase Infiniti plays a fiercely ambitious mathematics prodigy whose academic trajectory collides with Briney's equally sharp, combative peer. Director Niki Byrne stages their rivalry through late-night dorm debates, bitter institutional jealousy, and intoxicating physical tension.

Reviewing the film's TIFF debut, Variety hailed the project as a "riveting math-geek bad romance," pointing out that Infiniti brings fierce charisma to a role that demands both intellectual rigor and vulnerability. The publication noted that Briney works as an exceptional counterweight, abandoning the soft-spoken vulnerability of Conrad Fisher in favor of razor-sharp cynicism. For audiences who only know him as a teenage heartthrob, the hostility between the leads comes across as electrifying.

First-look stills released by Brit + Co on August 14, 2026, teased the project's moody palette. Byrne avoids the glossy aesthetic common to modern commercial streaming, opting instead for claustrophobic interiors, chalkboard scratches, and handheld camerawork that mirror the characters' fraying mental states.