A24's 'Hot Summer Nights' got a disappointing #71 of 85 by Rotten Tomatoes on a best to worst movies list. Here's my review and justification.
A24 has arguably some the greatest films of the 21st Century. From Midsommar to Ladybird to Moonlight, this production company has outdone itself with many films that have been a complete success. With Moonlight winning an Oscar in 2017 (ouch La La Land) and Ladybird winning a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture in 2018. We can say that these awards are justified. However Hot Summer Nights has the opposite response from audiences. They didn't seem to like it at all. Nonetheless I profoundly enjoyed it.
Daniel Middleton (Timothee Chalamet) gets stuck in drug dealing with his dealing partner Hunter Strawberry (Alex Roe) while trying to secretly trying to date Hunter's sister McKayla (Maika Monroe). Just like drugs, dealing them even has their highs and lows. Partially based on a true story, the ending of the film left many people dumbfounded.
Adhering to Campbell's Story Structure 'The Hero's Journey', Hot Summer Nights starts off describing Daniel as a shy newbie in town who wants to fit in. He is in his state of comfort until he meets Hunter a marijuana dealer who is the bad boy of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They partner together to sell drugs and make a fortune. However McKayla, Hunters sister catches the eye of our new favorite dealer Daniel. Hunter threatens to kill whoever dates her, as the protective brother he is, but our daring boy Daniel decides to pursue her anyway. At this point in the story we have reached the point of abyss. Hunter finds out about Daniel and McKayla and it all goes downhill from here. Daniel wants to start dealing cocaine but it's a slippery slope. Without any spoilers lets just say the ending is not what viewers expected. It left audiences feeling empty and deadened. Not that the ending was bad, far from it actually, it was not the route you'd expect your typical teen romance to go down. Of course with the topics of drug dealing something will go wrong, and of course that did happen. There was heartbreak, laughs and of course many joints. Towards the end of the film Daniel goes back to his state comfort, but with every Hero's Journey cycle there is always change in the characters. On the other hand some would argue that the film has some sexist undertones portraying McKayla as a "prize" and not a girl with her own story. As beautiful as this film is, this is the one area that I had an issue with. If we compare the characters to Propp's Narrative Theory, McKayla is essentially labelled as 'The Princess'. She has this mask that she doesn't show to the world. She is known as this desirable girl so-much-so people would die for her. This type of narrative structure is used in every film, just some are more controversial than others.
Javier Julia worked on the cinematography for this film and I can only compliment his work. Some scenes brought me back to HBO's Euphoria. The cinematography has this dreamy state where on the outside the story looks beautiful and you'd want to live in the main characters shoes, but it is simply masking the reality of a grim
and essentially scary story. This almost 'fantasy' type of filming convinces the audience that the life the character is living should be admirable from their point of view. If this were real life, the visuals would be a grotty,
Trainspotting type of story telling. Not so glamorous. By even just watching the trailer, this movie seems like your typical summer teen movie. The colour palette also similar to Timothee's well loved Call Me By Your Name, with tones of peaches and yellow, giving the film the nostalgic feel as if we were actually back in 1991. Some shots are even quite Edgar Wright-esque. With whip pans and dolly zooms, these shots portray a handful of information at a time. At the point of success and fortune in the movie drugs are being brought in, weed is being weighed and money is being counted all by using quick-to the point shots, this can also show that time is passing.
The teen story of drugs and romance really captures the essence of a life out of the ordinary. Arguably not being one of the best A24 films and with only a 43% on Rotten Tomatoes, it really does depend on your own film taste. I would say it is worth the watch anyway, it's flaws are it's own muse.
The Pink Soap Review Rating : 7/10