the real summer movie superheroes

Summer movies tend to be big and epic and all about superheroes. I prefer small movies about everyday people. I told you about three fascinating documentaries last week, and thought I’d share three more interesting choices. In these, the superheroes are a middle-aged couple trying to keep the passion alive in their relationship, a young girl learning how to cope after her parents’ divorce, and a group of elderly table tennis champions. Enjoy, and let me know what movies you’d recommend!

BEFORE MIDNIGHT

I loved this movie, which picks up twenty years after Celeste (Julie Delpy) and Jesse (Ethan Hawke) first met on a train in Before Sunrise and reunited a decade later in Before Sunset. If you haven’t seen those, stop whatever you’re doing and stream them on Netflix before heading to the theater. Part of what makes Before Midnight so good is knowing these characters since they were in their idealistic twenties – their hopes, desires, philosophies – and watching them settle into middle age and deal with the situations life throws at them. To the filmmakers’ credit, the story, which could have had them meeting for another passionate weekend, instead has them living together as the parents of twin girls and trying to keep the flame alive despite the conflicts and deadening routine of everyday life. The script rings so true and the performances by Hawke and Delpy are so effortlessly perfect, I often felt like I was watching people I really knew. The centerpiece of the movie is a breathtaking fight – a verbal war in which words are used as lethal weapons – in a hotel room, which is painfully relatable. Who knew this trilogy would end up defining the way we love? I hope Celeste and Jesse are back (together) in another ten years, and I hope Oscar takes notice.

WHAT MAISIE KNEW

Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan play such terrible parents in this devastating divorce drama, it’s often difficult and uncomfortable to watch. Based on a Henry James story that I am now curious to read (were custody battles this bitter in the 19^th century?), the movie is told through the expressive eyes of six-year-old Maisie as she navigates her way through the mess they’ve made and tries to make sense of her place in the world. Moore and Coogan’s characters are so self-absorbed and neglectful, they can’t possibly love their daughter as much as they love themselves – despite the presents and platitudes they shower her with. Thanks to a heartbreaking performance by star-in-the-making Onata Aprile, Maisie remains surprisingly hopeful, innocent and, well, childlike. This is a cautionary tale about bad parenting and the young victims of divorce. Teach your parents well, indeed.

PING PONG

On a much lighter note, this crowd-pleasing documentary follows eight senior citizens from around the world as they prepare for the World over 80s Table Tennis Championships in Inner Mongolia. With seven hundred and three years between them, they are still going for gold! The ping pong matches are fun to watch but it’s the stories behind the players that are, of course, so compelling. The fact that Les D’Arcy is still lifting weights at the age of 89 and 100-year-old Dorothy DeLow is competing at all is inspiring in itself! The film is a great reminder – at any age – to stay active, to stay passionate and, most importantly, to just stay in the game.