Aarcflick

Who would have thought a love letter to swimming pools could keep you hooked for ninety-nine minutes! At the heart of Sam Hayes's feature debut are swimming pools, those shimmering blue beauties with an undercurrent of class politics. In the sweltering Chicago heat, a group of college kids decide to go pool-hopping through the posh neighborhoods of their college town. They were willing to risk arrest to experience the joy of diving into one; the risk was worth it for the momentary relief from the summer heat that had briefly paralyzed their lives. The group was mostly made up of students who barely knew each other, and over the course of the film, they forged an unlikely friendship, one you'll remember for a lifetime. As a coming-of-age dramedy, Pools is refreshingly original. Not the laugh-out-loud kind, but a lighthearted, warm, and heartwarming drama. Identity is always at the heart of the coming-of-age genre, as people navigate the difficult path of becoming adults, and Poo...