A Hot Girl Summer Watchlist

July is over. Summer has settled and enveloped our surroundings, coating everyone and everything with a soft, suffocating heat. Sure, the heat is stifling, but it is also liberating in a way that erodes away tensions, revealing the personal. Many have taken advantage of this opportunity to have a hot girl summer, myself included. Being confident enough to casually date has been an emotional landmark in my journey of personal growth. And yet…I feel depleted. Dating apps are still a battlefield of dodging red flags and anxiously wondering if the person we are talking to really is who they say they are. Political rhetoric and social movements are treated like delightful indicators of forgotten morality. I rather someone ask me how I’m feeling in this current climate instead of performing fake sympathy/outrage. Then there is the vagueness that is our generation’s communication. We are a generation that dates in a realm of ambiguity in order to find a self-satisfactory conclusion. With heteronormative dating, the vagueness always favors the more privileged partner. I dread the end of every date, anticipating the reveal of true intentions. In the time of cultural and social reckoning nothing has drastically changed enough to make me feel completely comfortable with a stranger.

So this begs the ultimate question: how does one have a hot girl summer, let alone find any joy in the moment? For me it’s a mixture of activities both solitary and communal. Movie watching has always been my mediation. My recent frustrations have ignited a deep seated need for material that is both achingly sweet and sensual (and maybe just a touch of the chaotic). This forthcoming list consists of rom coms and erotic thrillers that have emotionally titillate and excite. They have been the glue that holds together my mental health, because what better medicine than fantasy to the emotional, intangible ailments.

1. Good Luck to You, Leo Grande

We live in a culture that rather be sexually appealing, then sexually liberated. It’s left films devoid of the libidinal, with no exploration of social dynamics and taboos in regards to sex. Watching Good Luck to You, Leo Grande is reminiscent of a Nancy Meyer films, with a gentle, comedic approach to sex work. The genius of such a film lays bare the joys of female sexuality and sex. Emotion creates tension and physical chemistry enhances excitement, the two leads never eclipse each other, instead working in tangent. Leo Grande utilizes the power of listening and understanding to build a cathartic desire that’s still so rare onscreen. A wonderful reminder that nothing is hotter than seeing and being seen.

2. Les demoiselles de Rochefort (The Young Girls of Rochefort)

I want to eat this movie. This movie presents itself like candy. Wrapped in bright, crinkly cellophane, enticing the viewer to be unfolded. When finally unwrapped and consumed, its sugary taste, exploding like a firework on the tongue. This is the Jacques Demy musical experience in a nutshell. I can’t imagine any contemporary directors leaning into the melodrama of musicals like Demy does. In Les demoiselles de Rochefort, love can be shallow, poorly timed; it can be ignited with a single glance and be consummated with a dance. It’s the search for love flipped inside out to reveal the saccharine and whimsical of our follies. It makes a fool of us, but it also propels us to be adventurous.

3. Body Heat

Long before the brief experimentation of erotic thrillers, there was noir and its subsequent offspring neo-noir. Body Heat is one of those offspring. It’s a movie with palpable heat, both physically and emotionally. Heat is seen and felt via cinematography. Soft lighting highlights the sweat on bodies, peaks of vibrant colors blur around the edges, contrasting with stark neutrals. The heat of this film is a Southern kind, dragging on the skin and psyche, freeing the mind from inhibitions. Watching Kathleen Turner and William Hurt entangle, then unfurl is reminiscent of a time in film when chemistry between stars was a craft. Turner especially is so captivating, polished and pristine, with an edge brought on by her husky voice. By far one of my favorites in the noir genre, since it is a rare film that allows the femme fatale to succeed in her nefarious plot to make a fool of men.

4. Fire Island

To end this list, I chose a film that felt both old and new. Long ago modern rom coms rebranded classic novels for younger audiences (see 10 Things I Hate About You and Clueless). It’s a strategic method to reignite our interest in the pursuit of love. Fire Island is a readaptation of Pride and Prejudice, which utilizes the novel’s themes to interrogate classism and racism in the LGBTQ+ community. That’s not to say the entire film feels like a cultural critique. There’s pop music interludes, hot people yearning, queer horniness abound. It’s a film that knows the influence Eurocentric rom coms have on pop culture yet chooses to give its audience what they want.

As I return to these films I realize it’s not a matter of yearning, but a need to be seen, heard, maybe even empowered. I still crave companionship despite all the mediocre dates. Yet I refuse to settle for something less. In the meantime, I’ve deleted the dating apps once again. Instead I’m choosing to spend the remainder of my summer with friends and myself. By doing so I give and receive the emotional fulfillment I’ve been desiring. I am an influx of delight. Why would I choose to revert back to stagnation?

A Hot Girl Summer Reading List

• Larissa Pham’s Crush
• Morgan Parker’s Confessions of a Perpetually Single Woman
• Bolu Babalola’s Why I’m a Pragmatic and Hopeless Romantic

Other honorable mentions

• Yes, God, Yes
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
• Something Wild