Indian Summer

There are certain films that I will habitually pull out at certain times of the year. Christmas movies come out during the corresponding Holiday, Scary movies come out around Halloween, etc. Usually some time in the month of October, during an unseasonably warm day, as the leaves are changing and fall is setting in good and proper there is another film I watch every year, Indian Summer. 

A group of adults have been invited back to their beloved childhood summer camp by the camp's owner, 'Unca Lou' Handler (played by Alan Arkin) to have a special week long reunion at the camp. The group includes Matt (played by Vincent Spano) and his wife Kelly (played by Julie Warner), who initially met at camp, Matt's neurotic cousin and business partner Brad (played by Kevin Pollack), the recently widowed Beth (played by Diane Lane), the perpetually single and fiercely independent Jennifer (played by Elizabeth Perkins), alpha male Jamie (played by Matt Craven) and his new girlfriend Gwen (played by Kimberly Williams), and Jack (played by Bill Paxton), who everyone remembers was the one who was kicked out of camp by Lou and are surprised to see back. Over the next week, these people reunite, relive old memories and perhaps gain some perspective over their lives. 

There is a certain charm to this film, which was written and directed by Mike Binder. He shot the film at and based it on his own real childhood summer camp, Camp Tamakwa, which is located in the Algonquin Park in Canada. Naturally, the film is gorgeous to look at. It was filmed in early fall just as the leaves begin to change and the film is infused with a lot of warm yellow and orange colors. The film is equally warm and funny throughout as the various characters reunite and more or less pick up where they left off while interacting with their beloved camp director Unca Lou. There is also an amusing subplot throughout the film as Matt, Jack and Jamie continue to conspire against Brad in a series of camp pranks in repayment for all the pranks he played on them as kids. Over the course of the weekend, old camp romances are rekindled as well, between Matt and Jennifer, revealing some of the strain on Matt and Kelly's marriage and Beth and Jack as well, who was friends with Beth's deceased husband Rick, who also attended camp with them as kids. 

The acting in the film is strong across the board. Diane Lane has the most dramatic role in the film as Beth, who is trying to figure out how to move on with her life after the sudden and tragic loss of her husband. Bill Paxton has his share of serious moments as well as Jack, who came to the camp reunion to try and make amends with Lou over their falling out so many years before. Alan Arkin is great in the role of Unca Lou Handler, the one character in the film based on a real person, who was one of the founders of Camp Tamakwa. Arkin exudes a sense of warmth in his role as he helps some of his favorite campers at a crossroads in their lives in his own slightly rascally way. I also have to mention Sam Raimi, who is a filmmaker in his own right, making a rare acting role in this film as camp handyman Stick Coder. There are little cutaways to him throughout the film where the mostly silent Stick is trying to work on something in the camp and usually results in these great moments of physical comedy. For example, there is a moment when he is unloading everyone's bags from the boat they take to get to the camp. You know he's going to end up in the water at some point, but Raimi masterfully milks the sequence and drags it out as long as possible and it is both hysterical and impressive. 

Growing up, I had a few experiences with Summer Camp. Nothing quite like in the movie, but there were summer bible camp retreats through our church for a like a week or so. I couldn't tell you a thing I learned from a religion standpoint, but I do have fond memories of swimming in the lake, the night time campfires and messing around with my friends. It was enough to make me not feel like I missed out on anything and enough that I can enjoy movies like this from a nostalgic point of view. 

Indian Summer is a beautifully shot, wonderfully acted and warmly funny movie that I watch every year around this time. It's a shamelessly feel good movie that I enjoy more and more each time I see it.