As the school summer holidays are well under way in Scotland and Ireland, with England and Wales not far behind, thoughts are turning to getaways. Among the most traditional - and fruitful for filmmakers - are camping, caravaning or hiking trips. So this week, we're packing our Streaming Spotlight backpack full of films on the theme.
Family holidays, great as a child, not always so great as a teenager. That's certainly the case for AJ (impressive newcomer Nell Barlow), who would pretty much rather be anywhere else than in a caravan at a holiday camp with her extended family. Writer/director handles the familiar coming-of-age themes with a light touch as AJ - whose queer identity is fully accepted by her family - embarks on a brief romance with lifeguard Isla (Ella-Rae Smith). Morrison captures the lovable messiness of families and first loves, while also offering a believable snapshot of the enduring institution that is the British holiday camp.
It's not just the British that love to go on camping holidays or, for that matter, make films about them. This 2006 film, which has a saucy seaside postcard feel, was so popular that it spawned two sequels. The setting is basically the French equivalent of Butlins where the whole of humanity has descended for a summer break. Among them are a couple who've holidayed there since 1975, an ageing lothario and, unexpectedly, an upper middle-class cosmetic surgeon and his wife whose car has packed up. While casting a comic eye on class conflict, Fabien Onteniente takes a warm-hearted approach and a breezy approach that may be a little on the tacky side in places but never slips into full Carry On cliche.
Koko-di Koko-daPhoto: Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival
The camping trip in Johannes Nyholm's disturbing drama is a long way from the summer sunshine. Husband and wife Tobias (Leif Edlund) and Elin (Ylva Gallon) have pitched up in a forest three years after their lives have been shattered by tragedy.The pair will soon find themselves menaced - not to mention repeatedly murdered - by an oddball trio who have danced right off the side of a musical box, its tinny nursery rhyme tune - Our Rooster's Dead - also looping itself around the film. If not everything works all the time here, Nyholm nevertheless crafts an unsettling atmosphere that is underpinned by a genuine sense of melancholy and loss. If you like psychological horror films that burrow their way under your skin, then this is for you.
A successful camping trip is just one of the challenges that a group of lovable young misfits undertake in Bert and Bertie's boisterous family comedy. Mckenna Grace marked herself out as a talent to watch as Christmas Flint, who is determined to be one of the voices on NASA's Golden Record. When she hears a "birdie scouts" troop can win a contest to be included she becomes determined to succeed. Co-opting her dad's secretary Rayleen (Viola Davis, having a blast) to be their troop mother, and enlisting all the local underdogs as fellow troop members, the stage is set for a joyful celebration of friendship and embracing difference.
The holidaymakers have already departed in Claire Oakley's psychological drama. Ruth (Molly Windsor) is making a first trip to the campsite where her boyfriend Tom (Joseph Quinn) works as the summer fades into autumn. Oakley amplifies the sense of transition - of the seasons and of Ruth's emotions - as childhood falls away in the face of encroaching adult feelings. There's plenty here that's unsettling, from the dangerous red colour of the acrylic nails older campsite worker Jade (Stephanie Martini) gives Ruth, to the sharp flap of the plastic they're using to close off the caravans for the winter, but Oakley lets things simmer slowly, as the tensions between Tom and Ruth mount and surprising awakenings wash in on the tide.
The ultimate killer vacay is offered by Ben Wheatley's ink black comedy that sees a caravan trip turn murderous. He gets a lot of mileage from playing with expectations as the mousy and downtrodden Tina (Alice Lowe) suddenly discovers a new killer instinct thanks to her boyfriend Chris (Steve Oram). Writers Lowe and Oram and Alice Jump apply just the right amount of exaggeration to familiar British quirks. They particularly succeed in highlighting the exquisite awfulness of the passive aggressive rudeness that small town Britain excels in. All of this is served up subversively, Wheatley style, with a good dollop of gore.
The setting for this hiking and camping trip is autumn, which seems appropriate for two actors - Robert Redford and Nick Nolte - who were also at a mellow point of their careers. Adapted from Bill Bryson's memoir, Redford takes on the role of the writer while Nolte plays his bear-like buddy Stephen Katz as they decide to take on the Appalachian Trail. What follows is a gentle examination of friendship and man's relationship with himself, other people and the environment, although these ideas are part of the woodland scenery, with knock-about humour the main event. Emma Thompson, meanwhile, yet again proves how good she is in supporting roles as Bryson's wife. Read what Nick Nolte said about the film.
We all know how tricky it can be preparing for that hiking trip - and this short but sweet animation from Daniel Greaves offers an amusing look at how tricky it is to manage a Big Bag.
