January often symbolizes a new dawn for many, a month of motivational self-improvement, resolution pledging, and character reforming. Routines are more stringent, will power is stimulated, and the potential for change seems endless. Gyms are fuller, as people attempt to shed the “Christmas weight” and improve their physical appearance. The differences between January and June are aplenty: the weather, the longer days, and the beginning of Summer versus the bleak mid-winter. However, despite the superficial discrepancies, a few things remain the same, one of those being, that people are back in the gym still striving to drop those Christmas pounds after a “week’s rest” following the strains of January turned into an entire four months of exercise absence.
As people prepare themselves for a swim-short or bikini-clad season (or in the UK, the weeks-worth of good weather), putting in those extra hours in the gym, rigorously sweating in the delusion that they may miraculously develop a six-pack in three weeks, inevitably leading to disappointment when their summer-body proves to be, well, still their winter one. For film-buffs, the summer often marks an exciting time for the industry with a plethora of new movie releases, and the pressures of attaining that summer-body while sitting fully clothed in a dark movie theater considerably diminish, for a few hours at least. Some of the best films have had screenplays set in the beaming sunshine, in the midst of a Summer holiday, whether they be holiday romances, revelatory dramas, or comedies. Here are some of the best movies set during summer vacation.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
6 Palm Springs
Hulu Neon
True to its name, this quirky comedy set in Palm Springs is a summer cocktail awash with vibrancy, joy, and excessive, repetitive relaxation (along with some ridiculous slapstick violence). Palm Springs is Gen Z’s answer to Groundhog Day. Whilst at a wedding, fun-loving Nyles (Andy Samberg), trapped in a passionless relationship, meets Sarah (Cristin Milioti from the hilarious show Made For Love). Together, the pair are stuck in a time loop where they’re forced to remain in the sunny holiday of Palm Springs, and begin to form a fledgling romance. A warming summer rom-com which, like its characters, doesn’t take itself too seriously.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
5 Luca
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Disney and Pixar’s Luca is a wholesome, uncontaminated animation which posits that in a world full of hate, war, and evil, the pure essence of our children remains indiscriminate, optimistic, and widely accepting. Set against the picturesque backdrop of the Italian Riviera, with its cyan waters, colorful and quaint Ligurian architecture, and quintessential piazzas, Luca tells the tale of a budding friendship between two young boys, Luca and Alberto, who spend their Summer roaming the streets of the Italian Riviera on their Vespa, taking in everything the pretty seaside town has to offer. Luca’s identity as a sea monster puts the pair in jeopardy, due to them being hunted and disliked creatures in the local area.
4 Stand by Me
Act III Productions
Stephen King is a name associated with horror thrillers, but his 1982 book Stand by Me provides welcome relief from the terrifying connotations of IT and The Shining, and is instead a great coming-of-age story about a group of four friends on summer break who discover the corpse of teenager, Ray Brower. In Rob Reiner’s sunny 1986 screen adaptation, the movie hones in on the perturbing reality of death and begins to penetrate through the thinly protective barrier which is the innocence of youth.
3 Call Me by Your Name
Sony Pictures Classics
Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name, starring the ever-impressive Timothee Chalamet as Elio and Armie Hammer as Oliver, won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay at the 2018 Oscars and is the final installment of the director’s “Desire” trilogy. The movie documents Elio Perlman’s love affair with Oliver, an American student, during the Summer of 1983. This LGBTQ+ coming-of-age drama is a lesson in self-discovery, self-acceptance, and the strides made during the 1980s to make homosexuality a less taboo topic. Despite the subjects of the film being of Jewish background, due to Italy’s Catholic and far-right political stance, societal integration of minority groups proved, for many, to be difficult to accept. Regardless of the outside world, though, the bright summer beauty of these characters’ idyllic respite from the world is perfect.
2 Jaws
Universal Pictures
A Marine Scientist, Police Chief, and Fisherman walk into a bar… sounds like the start of one of those supposedly hilarious, original dad jokes, but it’s actually the occupations of the three main protagonists in Spielberg’s Jaws. From the menacing theme tune, the helpless onlookers, the famous “Get out of the water” dolly zoom, to the unmistakable, bloodthirsty shark, Jaws is undisputedly a classic of cinema.
A summer holiday gone hideously wrong, the movie follows the story of a killer shark that torments the island of Amity and has an insatiable appetite for waterborne humans. With today’s technological advancements, especially in CGI, Jaws’ production arguably appears rather outdated, yet whatever it lacks in realism, it makes up for in suspense, tension, and seamlessly executed cinematography. The film is considered to be responsible for the ‘summer blockbuster movie,’ and its detailed summer location certainly helps.
1 The Talented Mr. Ripley
Paramount Pictures / Miramax
Adapted from Patricia Highsmith’s novel of the same name, The Talented Mr. Ripley is a 1999 crime thriller starring Matt Damon and Jude Law as the main protagonists, as well as support from Gwyneth Paltrow, Cate Blanchett, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Set in the late 1950s, Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is sent to Italy to locate and fetch Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law) on behalf of Dickie’s business-tycoon father. After befriending Dickie, Tom is swept away in the whirlwind that is Dickie’s fortuitously rich, ebullient, and luxuriant lifestyle which seems like an endless summer. Becoming infatuated with such a carefree existence, Tom goes to extreme measures to assume Dickie’s actuality, proving that many of us would do whatever it takes to make a summer holiday last forever.
