It's time for summer vacation. At the end of a season during which cinemas suffered (a phenomenon that we hope will not extend to this extent into next season, but that's a discussion for another time), the summer openings are now open and are expected to be a point of attraction for a very large part of the audience who for various reasons took the closed theatre out of their habits this year.
The result of this oddity is that films that are not directly related to the summer experience will open in the summer. Films such as blockbusters from the traditional multiplex or Oscar and festival cinema that are more closely tied to the pre-Oscar season will now open in the summer, which is, after all, what happened last year.
(Not everyone followed this route: Ryusuke Hamaguchi's superb Drive My Car, which won the International Film Oscar, will open in October, in the summer theaters that suit it best. That said, it's a tough time for everyone.)
Keeping these thoughts about the future of the cinematic experience in the back of our minds, we now look a little more directly: what films will we finally see this summer in the summer theatres? We've dived into the distributors' schedules and picked out 20 of the top offerings, from every genre, for every mood.
THE BIG BEASTS
Top Gun: Maverick
A sequel 36 years later, to a film that is considered to be ground zero for the new Hollywood blockbuster era. Tom Cruise flies through the sky again, steadily continuing to deliver the most impressive, physical stunts, far from the digital juggling that dominates the rest of Hollywood. Directing this sequel is the secretly fantastic director Joseph Kozinski (Oblivion, Only the Brave) and, somewhere between the legacy of the original, Kozinski's skill and Cruz's unrealistic dedication to the physicality of cinematic action, we expect the best. (May 26)
Elvis
In such a triumphant period (creatively at least, even if it doesn't exactly translate at the box office) that the stage musical has been going through in recent years, it was only natural that Buzz Lurman would finally return to the cinema. The great auteur behind Moulin Rouge! and The Magnificent Gatsby has a look that is missing from cinema and that alone is enough to make us look forward with restrained enthusiasm to the biopic of Elvis Presley, played by the up-and-coming Austin Butler. Joining him in the film is Tom Hanks. (June 23)
Thor: Love and Thunder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKngKaSgSns
Of all the typical CGI ephemera we'll see this summer, we're singling this one out for a few reasons. For one thing, we were immensely entertained by Thor: Ragnarok, so we have every reason to believe that Tyka Waititi's return to directing will once again result in a colorful, funny, entertaining spectacle of underdog origins. On the other hand, Natalie Portman returns to a role and a franchise that a decade ago gave her absolutely nothing interesting to do, only this time she's the one holding Thor's gavel. The film will be at least partially based on one of the best comic saga's of the last 20 years, and that gives us hope for something impressive. (July 7)
Nor Khan
And before we wrap up the big commercial titles, let's take a look at the big horror movie card for this summer. Which is none other than the return of Jordan Peel with his new cinematic nightmare after his creepy original duo of films, Run! and We. This time around it stars Kiki Palmer, Steven Yehne and Daniel Kaluya and the trailer is cryptic as to the content of the film. But that's okay, because it's better not to know too much. Few directors have presented a film as inventive, subversive and effective 1-2 as Peel did with his first two films. If we were betting on a cinematic thrill ride this year, it would be this one. (July 21)
My beloved Smyrna
Surprise, we didn't finish, we thought we'd squeeze in a +1 on the blockbusters. Grigoris Karantinakis' film with Mimi Denisi will be re-released in the summer with a new edit, continuing a steady, strong run in theaters that began back in December. (May 19)
AND LIGHT ART
Spencer
And now we move on to arthouse cinema, films that were mostly first screened at the last festival batch (i.e. last year's Cannes or September's Venice), and after a long period of patience are now being released in theatres. Perhaps most impressive of all is Spencer, a biopic of Princess Diana by Pablo Larain, a director whose biopics (Neruda, Jackie) are unlike any other. Here he casts Kristen Stewart in the role and frames Diana as the heroine of a melancholy gothic ghost story during a two-day stay in a steamy castle. Gorgeous and special. (July 21)
The Fact
Doesn't it infuriate you when you watch period films and the social issues it deals with seem to still be relevant when they should normally and legally be a fading part of the past? Audre Diwan's masterpiece, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, takes us to Paris in the 1960s where a young girl learns she is pregnant and tries to find a way to get an abortion at a time when doing so was illegal, leading her to a series of dead ends. Diwan approaches the story in terms of a thriller, with the frame suffocatingly focused on the young heroine (Anamaria Vartolomei in a dynamite performance), as if she were the protagonist of a horror film who feels like something hostile is hunting her. Film-experience. (2 June)
The Worst Man in the World
Joachim Trier's (Thelma) film about the life, loves and dead ends of a totally messy (and therefore totally “real”) 30-something woman, has already gained its fanatical Millennial audience around the world, was nominated for two Oscars, and is coming at us with the momentum of its fantastic leading lady Renate Rainswe. The quotation marks in “real” were there for a reason, however that is a discussion we will have in more detail when the film is released. (July 14)
The Card Counter
And the award for «the film that offers the least for the summer cinema experience, but that's where it comes out so what can we do, we'll go see it there because it's great» goes to Paul Schrader's Card Counter, which returns after the modern classic First Reformed with another lazily nightmarish plunge into the modern West of cynicism and amoralism, its central character a former torturer who now goes to a casino to pass the time, avoiding contact, redemption and basically the world itself. (Crazy fun by the jasmine.) It stars Oscar Isaac and Tiffany Handis and, beyond the fun, it's one of the best films of the year. (June 9)
Bergman Island
A couple travel to the island that inspired Ingman Bergman to prepare their next films, and there the lines between reality and fiction begin to blur. One of the most robust cinematic offerings of the summer, from Mia Hansen Love (Eden) with Vicki Cripps and Tim Roth. (June 23)
The Triangle of Sorrow
And here's a fresh film. Shot in Greece, Reuben Estlund's new project is his next work after the Palme d'Or for The Square, and at the same time an ambitious English-language production starring Woody Harrelson and Harris Dickinson (The King's Man). The film is about two models at a critical moment in their careers, set against the backdrop of the Chilean countryside in Evia. The film will premiere in Cannes in a few days, where we will of course report our impressions. (25 August)
TRAVELING
The Lost Daughter
Maggie Gyllenhaal's directorial debut follows Olivia Coleman (in an incredible performance) to Spetses and a general existential-parental crisis. Venice Prize and Oscar nominations for a stunning adaptation of Elena Ferrante's book, in a truly daring example of new American cinema that asks tough questions and isn't afraid to reach across without having all the answers. It will divide, but it's well worth its summer. (June 30)
Magnetic Fields
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3-V-i9dWcA
The Greek surprise film of the year. The incredibly lo-fi debut of composer Giorgos Gousis follows a man and a woman over the course of a few days in Kefalonia as they meet and, unbeknownst to them, connect for a short period of time that could be forever. Improvisation, humour, aesthetic freedom and unexpected sentimentality in a film that swept the awards in the Film Forward section of the Thessaloniki Film Festival and is now making its way to the cinemas. (19 May)
Wagon Number 6
A train crosses the Arctic Circle and two people on board will see their lives changed forever. The most romantic of this year's festival offerings from the director of Ollie Mackie's The Happiest Day in the Life of Ollie Mackie. Grand Jury Prize at last year's Cannes. (Summer)
ASK, FALL IN LOVE
Paris, 13th arrondissement
And now we move on to the category of «cinema with people touching», which as we know is the best cinema. First and best we put the intoxicating new film by Jacques Odier, who, after winning the Palme d'Or for one of the least distinctive films in his filmography (Dheepan), tried his hand at English-language cinema (the suave The Sisters Brothers with Joaquin Phoenix and John S. Riley) returns to the cinema of sensations and electricity between bodies moving in the present day. Paris, 13th Apartment adapts a comic strip by the great comedian Adrian Tomain and recounts the daily lives, loves and disappointments of a quartet of young people in contemporary Paris. Black and white photography, sweat, music, rhythm, melancholy and passion in one of the films of the year. (July 7)
Good luck Leo Grande
That seems adorable. Emma Thompson plays a 55-year-old widow who is looking for a little adventure, a little human contact and, yes, some good sex. Actually, lots of good sex. One of the independent hits of the year and already a solid bet for an upcoming Oscar nomination for Thompson. But, most important of all? It looks delightful. (June 16)
I'm Your Man
Another totally unexpected romantic comedy, this time from Germany, but starring Dan Stevens of The Guest and Legion fame. Stevens plays the android, who has a role to fulfill: To be the perfect boyfriend. Along the way, the film takes a melancholically existential turn but never loses its sense of mission, which is to thoroughly entertain the viewer. And yes, all the words in the preceding description are true, you didn't imagine them. (Summer)
Ticket to Paradise
That's why we haven't even seen a trailer but we are waiting for it like abandoned people in the desert who find an oasis in front of them. A romantic comedy set against the backdrop of Bali and starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney from the director of the film synonymous with cinematic bliss, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Ol Parker? Just tell us where we should go to see it. (8 September)
OY LA LA
Eiffel
Emma Mackey and Romain Duris in the biography of the man who built the Eiffel Tower? Yes, we are in the «French section» of this guide, you have understood correctly. Every summer in the summertime it becomes Seine, so we're looking to pick out some of the most interesting suggestions. This one looks like a film that, if shot in America, would collect five Oscar nominations by winning Best Supporting Actor for Benedict Cumberbatch. For a summer movie, just the ticket. (July 28)
France
One of the most «what I'm EXACTLY watching right now» movies a person can see if they don't know the very dry and particular humor of Bruno Dimon (Hors Satan, Jeannette). From the description it looks like a regular political drama about a famous journalist who sees her whole life and every political and professional equilibrium shaken after a horrific car accident. In practice, it's one of the driest and strangely eerie satires in recent European cinema. Satire in its true sense, too, not like when we say satire and we mean Don't Look Up. Starring Lea Seydoux. It played at Cannes where, of course, it didn't win anything; it's fantastic. (September 1)
Both Sides of the Blade
After a film called Eiffel and a film called France, let's change gears a little bit and go to something a little bit different but still totally French. Directed by the legendary Claire Denis (Beau Travail, Trouble Every Day, Black Hole, Let the Sunshine In) and starring the always great Juliette Binoche and Vincent Linton, the romantic drama comes with a Director's Award from the Berlin Film Festival in its baggage; Denis' first award at any major festival to date(!). We're going to have fun. (Summer)
Madeleine Collins
And we close with the essential Virginie Effira of the season. Our favorite French-speaking actress of recent years (Benedetta in Benedetta) stars as a woman with a double life. How do we say this way my husband and this way my feeling? Something like this but in its slightly more Hitchcockian form. Two lives, two families, two identities, and one moment is enough to shatter everything. Perfect summer suggestion for a relaxed drama with strong suspense elements. (July 7)
