10 incredible films to inspire your summer soul
Summer is a time for joy, freedom, journeys and relaxation. It’s the perfect time to hang out with friends, head to the beach, or hit the road for a trip. The magic of summer can’t be explained just by listing things to do. Summer has a feeling to it, one that can be replicated and sensed even when summer days aren’t here yet. It’s a feeling of calmness, an idyllic utopia.
Both the tones and opportunities associated with the summertime make for great film plots and settings. The visuals a filmmaker can capture using this season paint a beautiful picture that can take a viewer straight to summer days.
Grabbing a slice of summer is an all-round adventure and these ten movies, picked from directors such as Jonah Hill, Rob Reiner, Wes Anderson, Phyllida Lloyd and a host more, are guaranteed to sprinkle a little sunshine on your day.
So sit back, grab a cold drink and an ice cream and we’ll bask in the searing heat of some soulful summer scorchers.
10 incredible films to inspire your summer soul:
10. Mamma Mia! (Phyllida Lloyd, 2008)
Meryl Streep plays a single, independent mother who is about to see her free-spirited and loved daughter (Amanda Seyfried) get married. However, she is shocked to discover her daughter has tracked down and invited three of her mother’s ex-lovers, as one of them is her biological father.
This musical mostly encapsulates summer through its setting on the beach. Seyfried personifies summer through her carefree and warm nature, singing Abba songs in the sand. Mamma Mia! is just flourishing with this sunny and joyful sensation throughout, making it the perfect start to your summer holiday.
9. Mid 90s (Jonah Hill, 2018)
Stevie (Sunny Suljic) is searching for an outlet, having just reached his teens. He spends his summer walking the streets of Los Angeles, taking a break from his over-attentive mother and tortuous brother. He soon finds what he’s looking for when he immerses himself in the skater subculture.
This film mirrors a vintage-style clothing advert. It shows a story of finding new friends and parts of yourself over the summer. There’s nostalgia for childhood summers hidden within the visuals and the anticipation of growing up that came with every summer.
8. The Florida Project (Sean Baker, 2017)
A six-year-old’s summer break is full of childhood innocence, a search for adventure, and friendship. This is juxtaposed against a harsher experience shared by the adults around her.
Baker’s story is attentive and emotional. The script blends against the visuals to create a landscape of imagination and life as the summer sun beats down on it. It balances the perception youth and adulthood have during this time of year.
7. Little Miss Sunshine (Johnathon Dayton and Valerie Faris, 2006)
A vibrant and eccentric family heads out on a road trip to California. The youngest member (Abigail Breslin) dreams of winning a beauty pageant.
Little Miss Sunshine pins down that late naughties indie mood. It represents summer’s emphasis on family time and adventure. Dayton and Faris create a timeless classic showing a summer of comfort, laughter, and painful growth.
6. Moonrise Kingdom (Wes Anderson, 2012)
Two twelve-year-olds make a secret pact and run away together into the wilderness. This sparks a search for them as a storm crosses the horizon, disrupting the peace of a small island.
Anderson uses the season of summer to explore and compare childhood innocence with the trials of being an adult. A melancholy resides in how Anderson tells his story, yet, he manages to make it charming and refreshing. The film’s colour palette captures summer tones perfectly, giving the film a unique style.
5. Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953)
Audrey Hepburn charms and sweetens audiences in this story of an overwhelmed lady taking a break from reality in Rome. After crossing paths with an American reporter, she finds herself caught up in a blossoming romance.
Hepburn’s gentle nature brings in a feeling reminiscent of summer. The setting of Rome provides the audience with a getaway during viewing, and the plot device of an innocent romance shows one of the finer tales of summer love.
4. Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater, 1993)
A group of Texas teens await the rest of their lives on their last day of school in 1976. Before this new stage can reach them, they indulge in parties and substances to make the most of the night.
This film translates the anticipation, anxiety, and excitement of transitioning from high school to whatever is next. Its purpose is to show how there can be no purpose at points of life, especially in summer. All the characters are concerned with is letting go and enjoying themselves as much as possible.
3. Before Sunrise (Richard Linklater, 1995)
A chance meeting on a train between Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy brings out an unexpected connection and once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for adventure. The two, despite having just met, decide to spend the rest of their trip around Europe together.
Linklater replicates that same feeling of spontaneous from Dazed and Confused, but in a different light. This film is a summer trip of looks that say more than words. It’s all about exchanging laughter and showing one another who we are rather than telling.
2. Summer of Soul (Questlove, 2021)
This documentary shows “the revolution that could not be televised”. It focuses on the 300,000 people who attended the Harlem Cultural Festival the same summer as Woodstock. It’s the kind of film that can have you mourning for a time you may never have experienced and an era that defined a generation.
Summer of Soul celebrates black culture through its music and sense of unity and pride. Icons such as Nina Simone and Stevie Wonder take the stage to share their groundbreaking talent and exemplify apologeticness. It’s a love letter to the hippie era that has been lost for too long.
1. Stand by Me (Rob Reiner, 1986)
Based on Stephen King’s novella The Body, a man recounts a life-changing summer when he and three friends set out to find the body of a missing child.
It’s a shared view among film fans and critics that Reiner’s film is beautiful. Even King himself cites it as the best adaptation of one of his books and claims it’s even better than its source material. It chronicles a summer of energetic freedom and painful realities, as the boys enjoy their youth despite knowing what’s waiting for them. It’s essential to watch this film by your 12th summer, and then re-watch it a few times after.
