Released in 2013, writer-director Mark Thiedman‘s Last Summer tells the story of two high school sweethearts, Luke and Jonah (Samuel Pettit and Sean Rose), who spend their final months together over the course of a long, quiet summer in the rural South, contemplating their uncertain future and the uncertain future of America.
Jonah, sensitive, quiet and artistic, prepares to leave his small town for college, leaving Luke behind, but all he wants is for Luke to ask him to stay. But Luke, an athlete struggling through summer school, knows that his boyfriend needs to experience the world beyond their home. Though he is somewhat aimless and unsure of his place in the world, he begins to find solace in an old camera that he finds in an antique store.
Last Summer positions their love story against a world of baseball fields, bicycles, church and seemingly conservative values, though the boys never face adversity from their community; instead, their relationship fits directly into the fabric of their all-American town. In this unusual, socially-distanced summer of 2020, this film also provides a quiet, seasonally-appropriate escape to a simpler time and place (albeit an idealized one).
Watch the trailer for Last Summer below. The film is available right now on-demand at TLAgay.