This summer, I worked at a dental clinic. Movies played in the background as the high speed hand pieces whirled. In one day, three sisters were seated, all excitedly requesting me to play Vivo as we reclined them. Now, as I’m in denial of the new semester starting, here’s a list of movies to help us cling onto summer.
- Vivo
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Vivo is a lively celebration of music, love, and family. There’s a scene where we see into the closet of Gabi, the idiosyncratic protagonist. Inside are three fish tanks with tombstones where Gabi belts out her song to quite literally the beat of her own drums. While I was watching it, I gasped aloud. “Oh no, the poor fishies!” The little girl in the dental chair looked up at me and said, “no, there are no fish. Those are her pet rocks.” I had to quickly back pedal, realizing that now was not a good time to teach a patient the intricacies of death and the life spans of pet fish. But regardless, Vivo holds a special place in my heart now–a movie that reminds me of youth and innocence, perhaps the essence of summer.
- In the heights
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If you can’t tell, I’m a Lin-Manuel Miranda fan, even before TikTok blew up with the Vanessa trend. In the Heights is a piece filled with heart. It soars with swelling, passionate songs about sueños but it’s also grounded. It pays an ode to all the little things–a celebration and embrace of background and identity. Hold onto the last taste of summer with this movie–afternoons by the pool and hot evenings with piragua.
- Columbus (2017)
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Columbus (2017) is a beautiful gift dedicated for lovers of modernist architecture. Set in Columbus, Indiana, Casey and Jin are at separate stages in their lives but cross paths when Jin’s father, a renowned architecture lecturer, suffers from a stroke just prior to his presentation at Columbus. As Casey and Jin marvel at the humbling architecture that surrounds them, sounds of summer become immersive. The chirping of crickets and the humming of cars wash over as the warm hues and greenery remind us to hang onto every lingering moment.
