In-between in Ipswich

Coming-of-age movie stars Ipswich and debuts there 

By Taryn Plumb / Globe Correspondent

August 12, 2012 

IPSWICH — There's just something about that time: The sort of twilight zone right after high school, and just before whatever comes next.

It's a transitional gray area when you start to shift from being a kid to a young adult; when one chapter is ending and another is about to begin; when feelings of sentimentality for what you're leaving intermingle with excitement and anxiety for the future.

It's a time we all remember, and one that Ipswich native Brendan Fay, 24, seeks to evoke in his debut — and what he says is his only film — “Weekend in Summer.” 

Inspired by and almost entirely filmed in Ipswich, starring a cast of locals, and made for roughly $1,200 (essentially the cost of equipment), it will premiere at the Ipswich Performing Arts Center on Wednesday.

“It's just sort of trying to capture that lovely moment in life between everything you've known in your hometown growing up — and all the comforts that are afforded by that — and all the unknown that's to come,” Fay said. The trio of main characters are “in this place where the world is theirs, and anything could happen."

The 90-minute film chronicles the adventures and the musings of three young men — Armand (played by Tyler Reid), Lucas (Chad Leonard), and Ernest (Adam Truitt) — over two days in the summer after their senior year of high school. Fay, who also has a role (as Jacob), describes it as a “coming-of-age narrative,” mixed with “elements of mystery and action.”

Although in every sense, Fay noted, it serves as an homage to Ipswich, it's set in a deliberately unnamed town. To emphasize that sense of “whereversville,” he avoided Ipswich's most obvious landmarks, instead sticking to “subtle, beautiful little spots” that he considers its gems. (Locals, though, will recognize some backdrops, such as Crane Beach, the Ipswich Ale Brewery, and the Ipswich Outboard Club.)

Ultimately, the project was a bit of a whim for Fay, a computer programmer by trade and a composer by passion — he continuously writes music for his instrumental band, The Old Man — who has since (and somewhat regrettably) moved away to Somerville.

He made a few short films while at MIT but has no formal training, although he called himself a huge admirer of movies, particularly of Sergio Leone's sweeping Westerns, as well as the unforgettable, moving soundtracks of Ennio Morricone.

But suddenly last June, he said, “I just decided I wanted to do this.”

So he sat down and wrote a 45-page script and eventually set to filming with a digital camera, his friends working for free as both cast and crew. Later, he also composed the movie's soundtrack.

Yet although it's something he felt compelled to do, he has no plans for another film. His focus, and his “reason for being here,” as he described it, is composing.

“What I've been telling people, and telling myself, is ‘This is it,’ ” he said of his filmmaking career.

Depending on the reaction on Wednesday night, he'll do additional screenings, he said, and may even submit the film to the Cape Ann Film Festival.

But there may be more of a future in it than he anticipates: The film is already generating a buzz around town, particularly with Ipswich being one of its main stars (although it’s been a Hollywood darling before, particularly the Crane Estate, which has been featured in “The Witches of Eastwick, “Flowers in the Attic,” and the more recent “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.”)

“All of the people involved have lived in Ipswich their whole lives, so there are many friends and family of the cast and crew that are waiting in anticipation,” said Steven LeBel, who also grew up in town and has a cameo in the film.

“As the mother of two sons, I am eager to see Ipswich through the lens of a young man,” said Kerrie Bates, director of Ipswich Recreation, and executive director of the Ipswich Visitor Center. “Far from serving simply as a backdrop to adventure, Ipswich is so bold a place, that it becomes a character among friends.”

Sentimental feelings of a hometown shared by Fay.

“It’s a poetic reflection of my overall feeling about Ipswich,” he said of the film, noting the town’s diversity of scenery (woods, fields, farms, ponds, marshes, ocean), as well as its sense of community. “It’s such a wonderful place.”

“Weekend in Summer” will be screened at the Ipswich Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Admission is free, but parents are cautioned that the film has been “rated” PG-13. To view a trailer, or find out more about the film or Fay's music, visit oldmansmoking.com. 

© Copyright 2012 Globe Newspaper Company.