New York City has officially entered spring. Despite spring having actually started on March 20, we’ve only now begun witnessing the pastel pink petals returning in full bloom in Central Park. The cherry blossoms serve as a marker of our weather, and as we steadily exit 40-degree weather and enter the 70s zone, what better way to celebrate the floral awakening than to watch films that perfectly encapsulate a spring vibe. It’s time we leave “The Shining” behind in our winter days and instead break into the heat with these four spring films.
“A League of Their Own” (1992)
“There’s no crying in baseball!” You might’ve heard this famous line before, but if you haven’t already learned where it’s from, a fastball’s coming your way. Penny Marshall’s “A League of Their Own” brings to life a historic period in which an All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League was born to uphold major league baseball franchises while the men served in World War II.
We are given the same sporty formula we see in many sport-based movies, except Marshall’s film achieved something greater than sports storytelling in this picture. The women on the Rockford Peaches are tasked with more than just winning the World Series against the Racine Belles – they’re also learning what freedom feels like with their husbands away. Their lives as athletes might’ve begun in 1943, but so did their lives as independent women. This film excitingly marks the transition of traditional household wives to women who successfully saved the Major Baseball League as we know it.
“Midsommar” (2019)
Springtime films come in all types of genres – including horror. With this film Ari Aster essentially erases any sort of perception of horror you’ve once had. Horror in “Midsommar” does not follow the classic dark nighttime scenes of a traditional horror movie, it instead places you into whimsical yellows of a coruscating Sweden midsummer festival, with the Hårga cult of course.
With this only being his second feature film, Aster masterfully gets you to sit through two and a half hours of Florence Pugh’s traumatizing frown. Pugh, who superbly plays the May Queen, Dani, has her world destroyed within just the cold open, and throughout the film we follow the rebirth of her strength as she opens up to the Swedish cult in between ritual sacrifices and dances. Her May Queen crowning is a symbolic representation of Earth’s fertility and the reawakening of spring.
“Tangled” (2010)
Spring doesn’t initially begin with hot weather, we slowly transition into it – especially with the mildly cold April showers. Rapunzel mirrors spring in that way, clueless about the world around her (just as Mother Gothel intended). However, it never stops her from wanting to go see those lanterns coincidentally lit only on her birthdays.
There are few Disney animated movies we decide to carry with us out of childhood and into adulthood, and you should let “Tangled” be one of them. There is truly no better way to spend your school breaks back in your home bedroom, locked in your room with light showers outside of your window, and Mandy Moore’s voice absolutely hitting the most magical princess-like vibratos in “I See the Light.” Let Rapunzel’s golden hair be the only light coming into your room on a rainy spring day. Mother (nature) knows best!
“Miss Congeniality” (2000)
As we approach April 25, let us not forget the perfect date that allows us to simply wear a light jacket. In this semi rom-Com/action movie, Sandra Bullock stars as an ugly duckling who has turned into an attractive-yet-not-put-together FBI agent going undercover as Miss New Jersey for a beauty pageant operation. Bullock’s character, Gracie Hart, was once determined to be just one of the guys on the squad – that was until she was given a full makeover, making her beauty blend in seamlessly with her fellow Miss United States contestants.
As a society, we have outgrown certain cliches explored in this film. The typical “she’s ugly” and therefore is ignored by her male co-workers sort of thing, then suddenly she’s hot and can be pined for afterwards. While those parts of the film feel very 2000s, other parts remain timeless. The true heart of this film comes from Gracie adapting to female friendships, learning how to be gentle with her contestant friends who later gather to honor her heroism at the end of the film. This is the perfect watch for a not too hot or too cold day.
