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Capone Goes To SUMMERCAMP!!
Hey everyone. Capone in Chicago here.
Every so often a little film drifts into our worlds that we want to whole world to see. In a given year, this might happen 6 to 10 times, and when I write about such films, most of you won't have an opportunity to see these movies until they are released on DVD, which is fine; I just want you to see them. But here's a case where some of you might be able to catch a film on the big screen with an audience (this film begs to be a shared experience). The film is called SUMMERCAMP!, and at the end of this review, I'll give you a site you can go to find out where you can see whether it's coming to a theater near you.
I never did the full-fledged summer camp thing as a kid (I was more a day camp youngster), but so many other kids I grew up with were dumped at summer camp for two or three weeks, and I'm guessing the experience hasn't changed too terribly much over the years. As if to prove my point, I recently watched the terrific new documentary SUMMERCAMP! with my wife (who was a summer camp kid), and she even knew many of the songs the young campers were singing and the déjà vu went racing through her. Some things never change, I guess. The film serves as proof that the camp experience for many children is a place for them to make new friends, many of whom stay friends for life. For others, it's hell on earth. I haven't seen this many tear-soaked faces since the critics' screening of DADDY DAY CAMP.
SUMMERCAMP! focuses on a nature camp in northern Wisconsin attended largely by kids from suburban Chicago, and it's a work I remember absolutely loving when I saw it last October as part of the Chicago Film Festival. Somehow filmmakers Sarah Price (THE YES MEN) and Bradley Beesley (who worked on the Flaming Lips doc FEARLESS FREAKS) gain the trust of about 90 children and a handful of camp counselors, some of whom are shockingly honest about their attitudes toward children and the camp itself. But the real power of the film is revealed as the filmmakers get the kids to open up about their family lives, their health conditions (there are a few kids here with severe behavioral troubles), and their abilities to make new friends (I'd say the shy to outgoing ratio is 50/50).
There are dozens of unforgettable campers here, some of whom are the sweetest kids you'll ever meet. Others are unforgivable bullies who should be leashed, muzzled, and tied to a tree. There is one little girl who is obsessed with the chickadee bird. At first we just think she's a little weird, but as we get to know her, she reveals to her cabin mates the reason behind her obsession, and you'll be blinded with tears when you hear her story. The joy in watching SUMMERCAMP! is seeing these kids come out of their shells, in many cases with the filmmakers first and then with each other. But we also get a fairly extensive look at the lengths the counselors go to discipline the troublemakers as nicely as possible. It's a tough balancing act, and I can see how the job that falls upon them is both incredibly rewarding and the biggest pain the ass imaginable.
But most of SUMMERCAMP! is about friendships being forged and tested, endurance challenges, messy craft projects, a ridiculously funny talent show, campfire songs, enjoying or rejecting nature, and a wonderful set of tunes by The Flaming Lips and Noisola that truly set the mood for this quirky work that is one of the finest profiles of childhood I've ever seen. You'll also be reminded how a kid's knee-jerk reaction to getting caught doing something wrong is to lie. And some of them are damn good at it. You might not think a film about children can teach you much about your adult life, but that just goes to show how much you still have to learn about the birthplace of life lessons. The film is often funny, but it also finds several opportunities to break your heart in big and small ways.
As I mentioned, SUMMERCAMP! is slowly making its way across the country, including a handful of screenings at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago in the next week. Go to http://www.siskelfilmcenter.com for showtimes, and if you don't live in Chicago, make sure to check out http://www.summercampmovie.com/nowplaying.html for upcoming screenings of SUMMERCAMP! through the end of the year. This is one that's worth seeking out, folks.
Capone
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I hate that
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Sorry.
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SUPERBAD! cause it's Super good!
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Seriously, I need to know. Because they beat me up there and I want to know if I'm in for a hellish experience if I go see this.
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We were just glad we didn't get the counselor that would make the boys in his cabin line up naked each night in the bathhouse for shower time. I don't think he was invited back after that year.
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It sucked balls. It was a camp in northern Wisconsin called Manito-Wish and during the "quiet time" after lunch when we were supposed to read or write our families, I tried to go to the bathroom, and this fat Chinese kid started hitting my ankles with a broom, and then they just pushed me around for the remaining 30 minutes. All of them. Not one savior in the bunch.
Assholes. -
Trick question, nothing is better than Meatballs.
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I saw it at last year's Toronto Film Festival and absolutely loved it. Almost as much as I loved the Flaming Lips show that followed the screening.
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I might check out one of the shows at the Siskel Theater.
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Starmaking performance for Bill Murray. There really wasn't much there as far as a script, just your standard summer camp fare, and Murray pretty much carried the whole movie on his back.
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Are you referencing The Great Outdoors?
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The description of those kids sounds exactly like those coming to our camp trip every year. Each year my impression of "family life" and the parenting skills of some moms and dads sinks to a new low. I also had not thought that so many kids would be in psychotherapy.
The way you described this film, Capone, makes it sound like this film is truly doing justice to the great and almost mystic spirit of summer camps. I hope this will be available on dvd quickly...or maybe even find a european distributor? Thanks for drawing my attention to this, Capone! -
i think sitting around a campfire and spending nights outdoors, experiencing a thunderstorm and feeling kind of helpless because the wind is threatening to tear the tents apart...is something every kid and human being should experience at some time in their lifes...if they want to...
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Anyone remember "Gorp"? Goddamn, I feel old now.
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rule all camp movies. (and EVIL DEAD 2 while were at it)
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ad in the top right.
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You know, as opposed to DAY CAMP, where you went back to your Momma's evey night.
In summation, sleepaway camp fucking ruled. -
I saw this last week at the Brattle in Cambridge and we all enjoyed it. My favorite parts were when they happened to get be filming counselors when there aren't any kids around and you get to see them vent about some of the kids. That and any time that little girl who wants to see a chicadee is on camera.
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one of the two largest film markets and you fuck us Capone.
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Thank you for writing about this, Capone...otherwise I never would have heard about it, most likely. It won't come here but I'm hoping to rent it eventually.
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And I missed it! Capone, write about this sooner, not a month after it starts its theatrical run! And get it to come back through Milwaukee!!!
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http://tinyurl.com/ywkgqn
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firs tof all most of the camps I went to only offerd 1 week variety, which I did attend alot of, 2nd of all I'm old and hated writing letters so I never kept up with any of my old camp buddies, in the days of email and myspace and facebok, I find (through my 18 y/o brother) that it's easier for these kids to keep in touch. I think that's the fate of most lat 80s/early 90s campers was that we were a)really lazy when it came to staying in touch nd b)didn't have the convience to stay in touch and c)wre never really encouraged to wrie letters, etc.my favorite camp memory though invovles a can of what is known as "fart spray" I think that is self explantory, anyways I was on this one team and we were always losing, mainly because we didn't care about the sports stuff (anyone seeing a trend here between me and laziness) and the cabin next to us was like nothing but jocks. So one day when they were out playing soccer and my cabin was being it's lazy, looking for "wild" marijuana selves we got the brillent idea to take the can of fart spray and spray it into their A/C unit of their cabin. And then watch as they came scrambeling out due to the wretched smell that stuff left
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http://tinyurl.com/2ywhv3
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Rule. Not.
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or at least the song by them that was on the Baseketball soundtrack.
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I live in New York (though I'm on vacation now) and even though I know my location allows me to see more than your average film goer, so much still slips through my finegers. I love this site so much, but I'd love it more if it had more articles like this. Talking about films that are completely under the radar. I live about 12 Blocks from the IFC Center and I still knew nothing about this.
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Meatballs is a classic
The Great Outdoors is not a summer camp movie, heck its not even a camping movie. Its a family vacation film at best. And everyone is forgettting Wet Hot American Summer!
. . . my question that i couldn't figure out from this story, is the movie a documentary? -
Aug 22, 2007 9:39:11 AM CDT
There was also a Micheal J. Fox tv movie about camp...
by richard cranium
The name escapes me at the moment, I just remember he was the camp counselor trying to hook up with the brunette chick from the facts of life...then those 2 did another TV movie together where school loser (Fox) along with his brainy friend (Todd Bridges) and his nerdy friend (Crispin Glover) try to defeat the schools prep kingpin (Anthony Edwards), and win over the preps girlfriend (brunette Facts of Life chick)
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