 |
There's a slight nip in the air, after a long hot summer for most everyone. Most folks call this time of year "Indian Summer." There's also a flick by the same name, one you may not have heard of or paid attention to. If you haven't, it's a shame, 'cause it's one of the better little movies that got buried under a ton of flash in 1993. One of my favorite actors, Alan Arkin, heads the cast of Indian Summer, playing Uncle Lou Handler, the longtime director of Camp Tanakwa, a summer camp in the North Woods. Lou has spent most of his life trying to teach kids how to grow up strong and healthy, how to appreciate the beauty of the forest, how to appreciate the sight of a "good moose." Well, Lou has decided that he has spent his last summer in the woods, so he invites a group of campers back for one last week in the wilds. Most of these people were at Camp Tanakwa during it's perfection, before Walkmans and video games and rap music, when kids still knew how to have fun without batteries. The campers that return are from all over, friends who now see each other very rarely. Matthew and Kelly (Vincent Spano and Julie Warner) are married now, and Matthew runs a clothing business with his cousin, Brad (Kevin Pollak). Jack (Bill Paxton) works in a museum in San Francisco. Beth (Diane Lane) is still mourning the loss of her husband, Rick, who was also one of the group. Jamie (Matt Craven) has spent more time chasing women than worrying about life, as evidenced by his barely-20 fiancee, Gwen (Kimberly Williams), whom he brings along for the trip. Jennifer (Elizabeth Perkins) is realizing that she's tired of being single and lonely. But, in true camp rules, everyone comes to Tanakwa to remember and put aside their problems. Or do they? This movie is alternately charming at times, and almost a snitch from The Big Chill songbook at others, but it never goes flat. Arkin is wonderful as Uncle Lou, the man who still remembers everyone's "Indian name" after all those years. Pollak and Paxton are especially worth watching, and Diane Lane does a nice job as a young widow, scared of getting on with her life. Warner and Spano play well as a married couple with some problems neither one wants to face, and Perkins, who always manages to play a great jaded lady, does the same here. The one minor player who does the best, though, is film director Sam Raimi. Best known for his tilted approach to filmmaking (witness The Evil Dead trilogy, Darkman, and The Quick and the Dead) finally gets a chance to get in front of the camera, and he makes the most of it. He plays Stick Coder, Lou's handyman, boat driver, and general fix-it guy. Stick is about two steps up from goofy, and Raimi plays the role for its worth. He is the overt comic relief, and he is absolutely funny. One scene in particular is almost Keatonesque, as Stick tries to unload a boatload of luggage while keeping the boat near the dock. Shot at director Mike Binder's actual childhood camp in Ontario, Canada, the movie features plenty of wonderful scenery. In a way, Binder allows the woods to be a backdrop for these people's past and present, the thing that brought them together, and the thing that might just hold them together in the future. Binder ain't afraid of "corny," because he seems to know that, in everyone's memory, a bit of corn often captures the mood better than embellishment. Sure, camp is a thing to snicker at nowadays for some, but for many of us, summer camp was the chance to be yourself, away from your parents. It was the chance to start developing a personality of your own. Uncle Lou knew that, and tried to encourage that with his campers. It almost makes you wish there were more Uncle Lous in the world today. As fall heads in for a stay, grab Indian Summer from your local rent-a-flick. Unless you are a hard-line grump, you should find it a pretty good time. I guarantee you, it'll make you wish for one more summer in the woods, full of youth and ready to run. Who knows? You may get the urge to get a look at a "good moose" yourself someday.
Get "reel" soon,
See past Alternative Medicine columns: A Christmas Story | To Kill A Mockingbird | I Wanna Hold Your Hand | Kingpin | Joe Versus the Volcano | The Commitments | Indian Summer | The Big Lebowski | Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man | The Texas Chainsaw Massacre | Empire Records | That Thing You Do! | The Ten Commandments | The Third Man | Waiting for Guffman
|
