by Malana Battle
From the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, CBS Films presents The Kings of Summer, a unique coming of age comedy about three teenage friends. If you find yourself watching films like The Goonies or Stand By Me and think “they don’t make them like this anymore,” Kings of Summer will prove that “they” do. In this movie, Patrick (Gabriel Basso), Joe (Nick Robinson) and the strange and erratic Biaggio (Moises Arias) want the ultimate freedom. The three friends are sick and tired of their overbearing, intrusive parents and all of their rules and after this summer, their lives will change forever.
For their summer vacation, the teens decide to build a house in the woods and discover the real definition of independence. The beauty of nature combined with bonding of friendship is what this movie entails. “It’s grounded in real things. It’s grounded in like the pain of finding your place in the world and growing up,” says Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Director of The Kings of Summer. “For all of us this was absolutely a coming of age experience!”
Surviving on your own won’t be as easy as you thought. These three suburban teens are in for a journey they’ll never forget. They will have to overcome all the challenges of being independent including hunting and killing wild animals. “When he has to gut that rabbit, you know that’s him losing his innocence as a human on camera,” says Vogt-Roberts.
Laughter, with a hint of young romance, added with sarcasm from parents and learning how to depend on each other to become men and survive… The Kings of Summer will be taking over theaters on May 31. However, as part of Philly’s summer-long Awesome Fest, Kings will be making it’s debut here tomorrow night. To get you pumped up for this movie, The Ritz East will be starting the night off with 1986’s Stand By Me at 7:30pm followed by Kings at 9:30. Tickets are available here, or you can purchase the “Awesome Bundle” for $25 which includes entry to all six movies showing in Philadelphia Film Society’s summer series.
