As the heat heightens and a brightness beams, days become longer and experiences turn memorable. As we enter the summer season, let us enter with a showtime special, this time in tribute to the season. Without further ado, a movie critic (avid Letterboxd user) and film scholar (cinema minor undergraduate) presents: Set in Summer.

1.  AFTERSUN (2022) Dir. Charlotte Wells

“Be whoever you want to be. You have time.”

An acclaimed feature directorial debut, Aftersun follows the memories of an 11-year old girl who spends a final vacation with her father, both the melancholic memories and the miniDV memories. Tackling adolescence and parenthood as well as acceptance and grief, the film is full of both warmth and wonder. Join Sophie as she recollects her past, specifically the relationship between her and Calum, her father who she remembers, yet a man she never knew. 

2.  牯嶺街少年殺人事件 /A BRIGHTER SUMMER DAY (1991) Dir. Edward Yang

“Things can’t go on as they are now. Someone has to take charge.”

Based on a real incident and praised in discourse around contemporary cinema,  A Brighter Summer Day captures the conflicts of life for a young boy from Taiwan throughout the 1960s. Dealing with first romance, friendship, fights, and family drama, the film is an extraordinary epic. Join Xiao as he undergoes injustices as the middle child of a mainland Chinese refugee family and as an embodiment of the social, cultural, and political scenario of Taiwan at that period. 

3. DO THE RIGHT THING (1989) Dir. Spike Lee

“Are we gonna live together, together are we gonna live?”

Nominated for two Oscars and labelled as an auteur masterpiece, Do the Right Thing finds itself in a Brooklyn neighbourhood and focuses on its racial tensions. Occuring on the hottest day of the year, confrontations and tensions turn into violence. Its themes are still relevant today, from gentrification to police brutality. Join Mookie as he examines social issues through the film’s signature look of dutch-angle shots and vibrantly-bright colours. 

4. ESTIU 1993/SUMMER 1993 (2017) Dir. Carla Simón

“That girl has no morals. You weren’t there, you don’t know.”

Inspired as an autobiographical tale, Summer 1993 shares an intense take on innocence and confronts loss in childhood. Mixing bedtime or bathtime scenes with shots of kids playing together along with sequences of arguments with parents, the film portrays both the complex and the simple. Join Frida on her kid perspective and in her child universe as she loses her parents and moves in with new caretakers.

5. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005) Dir. Ang Lee

“You know it could be like this. Just like this, always.”

Hailed in queer cinema and admired as a neo-Western, Brokeback Mountain depicts two young men who meet when they find work as a sheep herder and camp tender, then go on to develop a relationship. Creating a melodramatic love story, the film delves deep into desire, intolerance, masculinity, sexuality, and a sense of home. Join Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist as they engage in an affair one night and deal with it for the next of twenty years.