In the summer of 1985, Rad Miracle (Marcello Conte) and his family arrive in Ocean City, Maryland, for a beach vacation. This seaside resort will be the stage for a life-changing experience for the young man: making friends with a hilarious hip-hop fan, crushing on his enemy’s girlfriend, trying ping pong…Rad is about to experiment with life as he never did before, until the final step of his path: the last ping pong match against his enemy, embodying his movement into adulthood.
As Michael Tully said in an interview at the Sundance Film Festival, he always dreamt about making such a movie – a film mixing his passion for the‘80s and his own youth. As in "Little Miss Sunshine" (2006), "Ping Pong Summer" introduces an American family going on holiday, and a story seen through the eyes of its youngest member, Rad Miracle, whose name says a lot about his future. The movie obviously relies on borrowed visual and aesthetic references, either taken from films of the 1980s, such as "The Karate Kid", or from everyday life – in a way, Tully attaches almost more importance to objects than characters, trying hard to reach authenticity through numerous close-ups on jackets, video games or tape recorders, which evoke the era. The opening scene is relevant from this point of view – a long truck-in in slow-motion, starting on a tape recorder and sliding slightly to the young man’s Nike sneakers.
To tell the truth, certain scenes almost look like music videos, at the risk of making the whole thing shallow. But the movie cleverly balances between aestheticization and self-mockery, deliberately emphasizing the weirdness of the ‘80s, through long shots on old-fashioned clothes, on canteen food, or even through odd characters such as Randi Jammer, played by Susan Sarandon, Tully manages to convey an off-the-wall humor reminiscent of films such as "Twin Peaks" and its “log lady”. Randy is indeed a double of David Lynch’s series character – a “fish lady”, in a way. The casting itself underlines the oddness of the ‘80s: Lea Thompson (the protagonists’ mother) or Sarandon will remind most of the viewers of chill movies released in the 1980s, such as "Back to the Future", or "Jaws 3D". "Ping Pong Summer" also heavily relies on borrowed film codes used in that kind of movies, such as the split-screen (during the final match), the wipe or the combined zoom and low-angle shot (when Stacey, his future girlfriend, looks at him while he is playing mini-golf), just as the opposition of the two boys bands. Even the faded and damaged film conveys a vintage touch, which is significant, as it is sparingly used.
So "Ping Pong Summer" is, in the end, a clever “kitsch” movie that balances the director’s nostalgia for the ‘80s with self-mockery and a nod to the films he grew up with, and that inspired him, revealing an interesting link between his own life and cinema. A movie that holds promise for Michael Tully's next production.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5rVCYqW8U4[/youtube]
