A song by Richien Jen popped up on my Spotify playlist and I am instantly transported to his movie with Sammi Cheng set in Terengganu. That core memory brought me here, to this blog, which I have neglected for three years. I honestly thought that I would be able to write more during the pandemic lockdowns. Instead, I sought refuge in watching movies and series, went back (briefly) to painting, and discovered new artists. I haven’t really abandoned this site–in fact, truth be told, I’d start writing a post but would later decide not to publish thinking what does it matter? The number of drafts I have is testament to that.

To anyone who’s reading this, I hope life has treated you well. (Special shoutout to @yourtoothdecay, whose reply to my tweet at @uchiwafangirl seemed like a serendipitous reminder to once more pick up this blog.)

Ah yes, my favorite summer movies. A list. (I do feel I write like I tweet now, with the economy of words at heart.)

Summer Holiday (2000): Sammi Cheng, Richie Jen

I watched this on a DVD and wanted to go to Terengganu. The film is fluff (it’s a summer flick for crying out loud) about a Hong Kong executive who goes to the island planning to sell her share of a beach only to find out that it’s been sold to a beach bum. The OST is so awesome and the fact you can still listen to it without skipping, 23 years and many music genres later, speaks to its timelessness. I wonder though if time has stopped in Terengganu? I still want to go there. The film is available on Viki (region-locked).

Summer Time Machine Blues (2005): Eita, Ueno Juri

Every time I re-watch this classic Japanese sci-fi summer film, I always make sure that the AC is switched on because it will make you feel you’re in a natsu inferno. It features the young Eita and Ueno Juri–plus Tsuyoshi Muro (I don’t even remember him there so I guess I need to re-watch, if I could find it online). The plot is simple enough: a group of students of a sci-fi club hanging out and their quest to find the remote of the AC using a time machine. It’s typically slice-of-life, a genre that the Japanese are really good at. And it’s fun in all its absurdity.

Under the Riccione Sun (2020): Christiano Caccamo, Saul Nanni, Lorenzo Zurzolo, Guilia Schiavo, Fotini Peluso

I found this film during the 2020 pandemic lockdown and would watch it every night after work. I hesitated clicking on it at first though thinking it was those plotless risque movie types. Turned out to be fun. The film follows a group of young Italians who spend the summer in Riccione in northern Italy, their tangled relationships, etc. No sappy drama though and the OST by Thegiornalisti (an Italian band that was disbanded by the time I discovered them through this film) is epic. It’s still on Netflix.

My previous post to this, written almost three years to the date, is about a summer song. It’s just fitting I guess that I return with a post about summer flicks. I hope the past few summers have treated us all well, though with global warming, now global boiling, we are like the proverbial frog in boiling water.

And the thing about seasons is that when one ends, another one begins, but if you’re living in a tropical country, it is the only season and it goes on and on and on … so it always feels like summer in my part of the world.

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