Age of Summer - Sky Cinema Premiere

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Rollerskaters in sunny California

A sunny coming-of-age movie set in 1986 California. 3/5 stars

A spunky teenage boy (Percy Hynes White) rides the waves of adolescence while spending the summer as a junior lifeguard in Hermosa Beach, California.

Along the way, he falls for blonde surfer beauty Brooke (Charlotte Sabina), falls out with his geeky best friend (Jake Ryan) and finds a strange mentor in eccentric local guru The Rock God (Peter Stormare).

A kind of junior edition of Baywatch, this episodic coming-of-age movie may not add up to very much, but its gorgeous sun-drenched photography glows with radiant nostalgia.

 

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Jason Best
Jason Best

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.