Indie Spotlight- Ping Pong Summer

In an ongoing effort to help aspiring filmmakers and promote independent films, particularly those struggling with distribution and releases, we periodically feature films in our “Indie Spotlight” series for your consideration.

Ping Pong Summer (2014) (English Language)

82min

Genre:     Comedy

Director:  Michael Tully

Cast:       Marcello Conte, Judah Friedlander, Susan Sarandon…and more

Writer:    Michael Tully

-Synopsis-

A teenager on a seaside family vacation in the summer of 1985 forms an unlikely relationship with an eccentric neighbour who guides him in the ways of Ping Pong, with her wisdom he seeks to gain acceptance by his peers and fight back against the town bullies in this not-so-subtle tribute to 80’s underdog movies and his own parochial upbringing from writer/director Michael Tully.

‘Ping Pong Summer’ is Michael Tully’s cinematic stroll down memory lane which takes the audience on a trip along nostalgia boulevard, a rose-tinted indie tribute to a more innocent decade. Everything you might expect or remember from the 80s is here, from the “bold” fashion to power ballads and the funky breakbeats of early hip-hop, all wrapped up in a little indie comedy coming-of-age flick with plenty of obligatory montages.

Essentially a reworking of ‘The Karate Kid’, ‘Ping Pong Summer’ is a comedy bordering on satire but with great affection for that teen underdog classic. Just replace the Karate dojo with a Ping Pong social club as the arena where our young hero “Rad Miracle” goes from awkward outsider to determined disciple, and ultimately wins the girl while beating the bully and achieving ultimate Table-tennis glory.

There’s even room for a “Mr. Miyagi”-like Ping Pong mentor, inexplicably played by Oscar-winner and screen legend Susan Sarandon, the only explanation we have for this casting coup is her unexpected real life obsession with Table-Tennis.

Along with a cast of mostly amateurs and 1st timers, Michael Tully managed quite few topical surprises, like casting Lea Thompson, aka “Lorraine Baines McFly”, as “Rad’s” mother for yet another film based in 1985. Indeed there are several 80s culture crossovers, including a clear Miami Vice “Crocket & Tubbs” element between “Rad” and his Jheri Curled companion “Teddy”.

Let’s be real for a second, ‘Ping Pong Summer’ does not occupy the same cinematic space as the films it eulogizes, this is a tiny micro-budget independent film with clichéd & deliberate overacting and a tone of overt cheesiness. But there’s something charming and entertaining about this nostalgia-fest that hankers for a more innocent time through a rose-tinted view of that decade, while simultaneously making fun of it.

‘Ping Pong Summer’ is out now on VoD to buy or rent at WeAreColony.com

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