No, no, no ... don't pass this movie up because of the limp description in your TV guide! Yes, you've got your standard college students coming of age theme here, but this time it is delivered in a rich and incredibly entertaining way. Okay, it is a Canadian production but the expected Canadian drollness has a most satisfying edge. What most impresses me about this movie is the clever dialog ... but dialog is nothing if not delivered well. No worries here. The acting chops of everyone in this flick blended that dialog into their characters seamlessly. The soundtrack for this production is also superb. Overall, this movie was truly a delightful surprise. I will definitely watch it again.
9 Reviews
a 10 that hardly anyone will see
catalyst-728 December 2003
I'm blown away. In a world where the IQ targets of movies have been declining for nearly four decades, where the iconic Coming of Age story has descended from the wit of The Graduate to the banality of Friends, where Whale Rider has seemed the best since Flirting because Hollywood keeps lowering the bar, I have just seen a wonderful film called Summer.
Summer, from Canada, appears to have been shot for such a small budget that it puts to final rest the adage `You get what you pay for.' True, you can plainly see how little was paid in cheap filming medium and a few editing gaps, and the filming locations are appalling in their ordinariness (isn't most of the inhabited world?), but this film is outstanding for two reasons. First, the story: Coming of Age, AKA Who Am I and How Can I Become Who I Really Am?, the all-time Third Best Plot (the Best Plot being Love is Everything, the Second Best being Goodness Will Win). For a first film on a subject that's been done so often, it manages to be funny, touching, really insightful and very much worth watching. And second, the acting is extraordinary.
This movie is about three kids, no four kids, no six, no. it's about all kids, actually. At least the ones who graduate from (whatever) and find themselves facing The Cold, Cruel, Scary World. Charlie (Michael Rubenfeld) has succeeded due to his belief in boldness. Stefanie (Karen Cliché) worries that her chosen profession (acting) is not one where one meets lots of good people. Miller, (Joe Cobden) is lost, so unsure of his path that he just wants to play for a summer or maybe longer.. And, Ella (Amy Sloan), Miller's girlfriend, faces The Cold, Cruel, Scary World by attacking it before it attacks her. They beautifully illustrate ways that young people face their second toughest decision (the first being Who Will I Marry and third being Where Will I Live? both of which get some play in this movie as well).
The time is the Last Summer Before It Starts. They hold court at a swimming pool the size of a small world that is their turf until it is taken over by a `pool Nazi.' (The rendition was so cartoonish that this character didn't belong in this film). They drink to excess (none of them smoke, which I found really refreshing; no tobacco industry product placements here). They make new friends, couple and uncouple, listen to the best recorded music in recent films for young people and face crises in ways that determine their trajectories. This isn't a film that will appeal to those who thrive on car chases, explosions and computer-animated fantastic martial arts feats. The kids aren't crude or inexplicably mindless; everything they do and say reveals their conflicted intelligence and appeal.
Miller is the emotional center of the film, a kid who is facing the choice of working in an antiquarian bookstore or going to another city to do something big and bold in business. Ella, played by an actress so attractive and fresh it's hard to believe that she hasn't been sucked into the Hollywood black hole yet, wants to be a physician and feels the need to start working towards it Right Now, even if that jeopardizes her relationship with Miller. As a result, Miller feels driven into the orbit of a woman who sends red flags up in everyone but him. His apology is one of the most nakedly touching I have ever seen on film. Yet it is topped by another-delivered by someone who was was, to that point, the film's least interesting character-who also makes a bad choice of the heart, and takes the stage and humbles herself before friends and strangers alike in a monologue of almost Shakespearian power even if its subject and delivery are 100% today.
In the end we are left feeling that we have become friends with some remarkable young people, and are the richer for it. What more can you ask from a movie, especially a first feature film shot for so little money, the kind that screens in very non-prime hours on small audience-share TV stations? A movie that isn't available on DVD? But however overlooked, Summer is a gem, clearly a 10, one I dearly wish there were a way to share with my wife and my three twentysomething sons.
Summer, from Canada, appears to have been shot for such a small budget that it puts to final rest the adage `You get what you pay for.' True, you can plainly see how little was paid in cheap filming medium and a few editing gaps, and the filming locations are appalling in their ordinariness (isn't most of the inhabited world?), but this film is outstanding for two reasons. First, the story: Coming of Age, AKA Who Am I and How Can I Become Who I Really Am?, the all-time Third Best Plot (the Best Plot being Love is Everything, the Second Best being Goodness Will Win). For a first film on a subject that's been done so often, it manages to be funny, touching, really insightful and very much worth watching. And second, the acting is extraordinary.
This movie is about three kids, no four kids, no six, no. it's about all kids, actually. At least the ones who graduate from (whatever) and find themselves facing The Cold, Cruel, Scary World. Charlie (Michael Rubenfeld) has succeeded due to his belief in boldness. Stefanie (Karen Cliché) worries that her chosen profession (acting) is not one where one meets lots of good people. Miller, (Joe Cobden) is lost, so unsure of his path that he just wants to play for a summer or maybe longer.. And, Ella (Amy Sloan), Miller's girlfriend, faces The Cold, Cruel, Scary World by attacking it before it attacks her. They beautifully illustrate ways that young people face their second toughest decision (the first being Who Will I Marry and third being Where Will I Live? both of which get some play in this movie as well).
The time is the Last Summer Before It Starts. They hold court at a swimming pool the size of a small world that is their turf until it is taken over by a `pool Nazi.' (The rendition was so cartoonish that this character didn't belong in this film). They drink to excess (none of them smoke, which I found really refreshing; no tobacco industry product placements here). They make new friends, couple and uncouple, listen to the best recorded music in recent films for young people and face crises in ways that determine their trajectories. This isn't a film that will appeal to those who thrive on car chases, explosions and computer-animated fantastic martial arts feats. The kids aren't crude or inexplicably mindless; everything they do and say reveals their conflicted intelligence and appeal.
Miller is the emotional center of the film, a kid who is facing the choice of working in an antiquarian bookstore or going to another city to do something big and bold in business. Ella, played by an actress so attractive and fresh it's hard to believe that she hasn't been sucked into the Hollywood black hole yet, wants to be a physician and feels the need to start working towards it Right Now, even if that jeopardizes her relationship with Miller. As a result, Miller feels driven into the orbit of a woman who sends red flags up in everyone but him. His apology is one of the most nakedly touching I have ever seen on film. Yet it is topped by another-delivered by someone who was was, to that point, the film's least interesting character-who also makes a bad choice of the heart, and takes the stage and humbles herself before friends and strangers alike in a monologue of almost Shakespearian power even if its subject and delivery are 100% today.
In the end we are left feeling that we have become friends with some remarkable young people, and are the richer for it. What more can you ask from a movie, especially a first feature film shot for so little money, the kind that screens in very non-prime hours on small audience-share TV stations? A movie that isn't available on DVD? But however overlooked, Summer is a gem, clearly a 10, one I dearly wish there were a way to share with my wife and my three twentysomething sons.
the best movie no one will see
IAmTheMessageCenter1 March 2004
I didn't intend to watch this movie. It was on tv and I just caught it 2 minutes into the film. Funny lines and immediately interesting characters kept me absorbed but the moment they ended up at the pool (one of the main locations in the movie - the meeting place and hang-out spot for the characters) with jazzy electronic music playing on the soundtrack I was hooked. Movies about college grads hanging out and coming to terms with what they are going to do with their lives has been done many times before but I have to say this is the best of the bunch. The situations the characters have to deal with are similar to what most people of that age have to deal with, which makes everyone immediately identifiable. The acting from the young and unknown, yet extremely talented cast is superb, the story and pacing are spot on, never dragging at all and the music is a delight. I can't fault the movie in any area. Phil Price seems to come from the same generation of young film makers who grew up on John Hughes movies (Kevin Smith is another example) and like Smith's characters the characters in the movie even talk about John Hughes movies. Thing is unlike works from Smith, Richard Linklater, et al, this one won't be seen by many people and not fully appreciated. It is really too bad, as this beats them hands down.
i can't believe i got so lucky...bit of a run on rant
sdn666378 February 2006
an amazing film. I truly cannot believe that my boredom..as i was walking through the house with the channel just happening to be on bravo(where i came across this gem) and sat down...got through Miller's drunken rant...(yes i did see it starting from there) and was instantly hooked...then right into Millers apology the next morning and just parked myself there with absolutely no regard for homework(as usual), socializing(commonly disregarded by myself...only for a good reason) and my other hobby(besides watching movies) which is art, which i had every intent on doing and amazingly caught this, that is Summer. I knew instantly by looking at it that it was independent, i knew id want to watch it..and i knew i began to like it...but much like "Train 48" and "Rub and Tug"...along with Degrassi...of any kind...i realized it was Canadian...unlike all previously mentioned Canadian productions, this film had something those didn't...greatness. This movie should be seen by many other people...and sadly probably wont since its apparently not available on DVD...because it has done for me what no other...and i literally mean absolutely no other Canadian TV show or film has done for me...its inspired me. Being an aspiring Canadian teen filmmaker...(i thought i'd let you all in on the label..just in case you were wondering, 17) i knew that ...well besides french independent Canadian cinema...not much stuff that can match with the rest of the Hollywood films has come from Canada. And not much from Canada inspires me, usually it is some sort of indie flick from Red Bank, NJ or something like Requiem for a Dream, something that takes an idea and just makes it all the better. I love those types of movies, and this one certainly did that. Sadly ill have to stop my rant here because its 7:52 in the morning and i have to go get an education...but ill stop here with this...i certainly have a new understanding of what it might take to be able to create such a film. And it literally makes me feel very lucky because had i not been so bored...i would not have seen it...and not had such an epiphany..."A scholar who can quote f**king Beuller!?"..."I prefer knowledge junkie"...Latte
For the Peter Pan syndrome in us all...
Gimmickthegnome25 May 2004
Somewhere between childhood and 'growing up' is summer. (Oooo, deep.)
Seriously, this is a great little movie. There is a beautiful camaraderie between the three main characters. And of the three, there's at least one character with whom you can find a familiarity with. That is, if you ever happened to be an out-of-school but out-of-'real'-work, slightly direction less twenty-something. (Hey, we've all been there, and now more than ever, there seem to be more of us.)
The cast works as wonderfully believable slackers, especially one of my current favourites actresses, Karen Cliché. (Also, if you liked Joe Cobden in this movie, check out 'Suddenly Naked'. He's even better in that.)
Please, do yourself a favour and check out this indie gem. 9 out of 10
Seriously, this is a great little movie. There is a beautiful camaraderie between the three main characters. And of the three, there's at least one character with whom you can find a familiarity with. That is, if you ever happened to be an out-of-school but out-of-'real'-work, slightly direction less twenty-something. (Hey, we've all been there, and now more than ever, there seem to be more of us.)
The cast works as wonderfully believable slackers, especially one of my current favourites actresses, Karen Cliché. (Also, if you liked Joe Cobden in this movie, check out 'Suddenly Naked'. He's even better in that.)
Please, do yourself a favour and check out this indie gem. 9 out of 10
one of the best movies you'll never see.
radivel11 July 2007
The other description of this movie that is incredibly long pretty well describes it to a T. You should be able to find it since there are only about 8 other descriptions.
There is no reason not to watch this show if it comes on. The cast does an extremely good job, they don't overact, they don't underact, they basically seem real, like they're doing real things, unlike practically every other movie of this type. Obviously the low budget helps with this, even, someone with a huge budget might not make the movie feel like this.
Really, all it says is everything you could want about life, love and the choices one might make about them both. What more do you need?
There is no reason not to watch this show if it comes on. The cast does an extremely good job, they don't overact, they don't underact, they basically seem real, like they're doing real things, unlike practically every other movie of this type. Obviously the low budget helps with this, even, someone with a huge budget might not make the movie feel like this.
Really, all it says is everything you could want about life, love and the choices one might make about them both. What more do you need?
One of the best movies I've ever seen
hautehippo16 August 2010
I saw this movie at about 7 years ago while channel surfing and fell in love, and now years later, Im still searching for it. I will never forget thinking this is one of the most sweet, funny and realistic movies I've ever seen (possibly because I had just graduated), and Canadian to boot. The characters were so well acted that a simple story reflects with humour the complexities associated with moving into adulthood. This is a great movie with a small cast and probably smaller budget, but there's movie magic in this little film. If you have the opportnity to catch this film, give it a chance, it'll charm you. Why isn't it available on DVD!?!?!?!?
Gold, Baby.
Dade500015 February 2004
I started watching this movie - already about twenty minutes into its airing - under a sense of curiosity-meets-duty (with a view to supportin' indies AND the cinematic home team)... but I ended up watching it happily to the credits because it proved to be sweet, honest, entertaining and refreshingly well made. Kinda like... Reality Bites on a micro-budget with a few "ehs" and strong beer thrown in for Northern Colour. And yet I've never even HEARD of this film.
No idea what else the filmmakers have done, but if this is in fact a first effort it speaks highly of him/her/them. They aren't splitting the atom here, and the movie is very "small" and not at all flashy, but it works despite (because of?) that. Some of the actors were true pleasures, giving quiet performances - a sign of skill, compared to the showy, tick-y bombast you tend to get in novice thesps (think Clerks). Wicked music, too - not sure if Steph's romantic interest is a known singer or was even lip sync-ing, but its great stuff - as welcome for place/time flavour as the generation-specific pop cultural refs to Ferris and the mighty John Hughes prove to be.
But all of that aside, this movie is worth seeing just for the great Karen Cliche "stupid bitch" scene. Truly heartbreaking in its nakedness, excellently acted and inventively scripted, what could have been a cheesy de riguer Hot Girl Comeuppance/Apology scene became something i haven't seen before - and the best five minutes of the flick.
No idea what else the filmmakers have done, but if this is in fact a first effort it speaks highly of him/her/them. They aren't splitting the atom here, and the movie is very "small" and not at all flashy, but it works despite (because of?) that. Some of the actors were true pleasures, giving quiet performances - a sign of skill, compared to the showy, tick-y bombast you tend to get in novice thesps (think Clerks). Wicked music, too - not sure if Steph's romantic interest is a known singer or was even lip sync-ing, but its great stuff - as welcome for place/time flavour as the generation-specific pop cultural refs to Ferris and the mighty John Hughes prove to be.
But all of that aside, this movie is worth seeing just for the great Karen Cliche "stupid bitch" scene. Truly heartbreaking in its nakedness, excellently acted and inventively scripted, what could have been a cheesy de riguer Hot Girl Comeuppance/Apology scene became something i haven't seen before - and the best five minutes of the flick.
Not your average student coming of age film
barbski-17 July 2009
Don't be misled by the 'description' of this movie - someone should give that particular writer a salami slap upside the head. I am not a fan of coming-of-age movies and normally would have given it a pass, but when I clicked to this particular channel, the scene was of Charlie madly typing away on his computer with the smirk of the all-knowing on his face. Though I joined the movie too late to find out what he was actually writing, I did catch the one of the best lines ever written, "Sometimes you just have to take a vacation from your own head." Definitely a great piece of advice. From what I saw, this movie is worth a look-see. Excellent music as well.
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