Heat Wave Flicks: The Man In The Moon

Labor Day weekend traditionally signals the end of summer; ushering in September means school's back in session and we are back to changing leaves and colder weather.

No longer being a student means ignoring these former commonalities and, especially when HOT weather is just hitting Washington, simply soaking up the sun and calling it summer for as long as we like! Hey, and it's not technically the end of this season we call summer until September 22nd.

This may be the last movie of summer I'll get to posting-but we'll just see, I may be stuck in this temperament for quite awhile yet. The weather men are broadcasting 80s for the next week, so I definitely see this being the case.

Almost completely slipping my brain, I may have intentionally been saving the best for last; Reese Witherspoon's first movie, and possibly best,  The Man In The Moon.






This film follows along the same footsteps as other classic movies about first loves, the leisure of three months off from school, and ensuing family complexities. The Man In The Moon, is right up there with My Girl and Stand By Me, but not as widely acknowledged.

Two sisters are growing up in Louisiana during the 1950's to live quiet and simple lives on a farm, even as they grow more and more into teenagers. Both are naive and have had nothing to deeply concern them in their young life. They stick to simply being annoyed by each other, as older and younger siblings will do.

Witherspoon's character desperately wants to be taken seriously as an adult (at 14), but is endlessly mocked by her older sister, especially for the fact that she still holds onto the comfort of telling her darkest secrets to, as their mother used to tell them, the man in the moon.

If only these girls had known that anything they told the man in the moon before would be trivial in comparison to the events of a single summer. Childish disagreements mean nothing and any sisterly bond is questioned, when they inevitably fall for the same boy, with tragic results. Oh, Court! (Yeah, that's actually his name).

Nothing reminds me more of the summers in elementary school than this treasured movie. My brother and I had our favorite babysitter, and she used to bring this over every summer, on VHS of all things. It has remained stuck on my favorites list ever since.

By the way, are we sensing a theme? All of these movies take place in the South! Being from the Pacific Northwest I think I have a complexity about romanticizing Southern summers, because it just looks like sun and blue sky every day. I would probably take it all back after walking outside and instantly passing out.

For now, I'll just appreciate it through watching movies.