Best British Films: 23. My Summer of Love

Pawel Pawlikowski won the BAFTA for Best British Film for his moody and bittersweet love story, My Summer of Love. Rightfully so. My Summer of Love is an exceptional film of teenage love, lies, and loss, with wonderful lead performances from Natalie Press and Emily Blunt.

Press plays Mona, a lonely girl with no family except her older brother, who has recently found God and turned his bar into a kind of church. When she meets a sophisticated rich girl (Emily Blunt) suffering from parental neglect, opposites immediately attract and the two girls swiftly become inseparable.

The relationship between Mona and the rich girl, Tamsin, soon becomes romantic and obsessive, the girls promising never to part. Forthcoming Mona doesn't realize, however, that Tamsin is quite a talented actress, and she's in for a painful surprise when Tamsin's true colors show themselves.

The tone of the film is pitch-perfect as a love story between two moody and self-important teens. The film seems to have incorporated eyes as something of a visual theme, perhaps hinting that there is more to the love story and to Tamsin than what Mona initially perceives. Its a knockout indie gem worth your time. ****/4