Rom-Com/Drama • PG • 92 Minutes • 2025
When people ask me what my favourite films of all time are, I think they expect me to say something like, ‘Oh, my favourite film is this foreign arthouse film that examines the intersection of the human experience and wartime efforts brought on by state propaganda’. Truth be told, as much as I would probably gobble that film up, the ones that stick with me are much more approachable and have wider audience appeal. I am not averse to rom-coms, chick-flicks, or what have you. Each film has the right to be graded and analyzed on the story’s merits. Unfortunately, although given that elegant intro, Darrell Dennis’s film Sweet Summer Pow Wow tragically suffers as a sad attempt at a love story.
What Darrell Dennis tries to achieve with Sweet Summer Pow Wow, is portray a budding romance between two 17-year-olds, Jinny (Tatyana Rose Baptiste) and Riley (Joshua Odjick). As Jinny and Riley meet and fall in love during an indigenous Pow Wow circuit they briefly get an escape from their chaotic lives. Jinny’s mother, Cara (Tanis Parenteau) pressures her to get a law degree and give up on contemporary dance and her dream of moving to Toronto. Riley, whose father’s alcoholism drives him to spend time with Luke (Joel Montgrand), his uncle, as they plan a move to Vancouver for a more stable life. From the logline alone, this could have been a charming teen love story set in a unique setting that would have stood out among many other bland teen romance films. The truth is, this film doesn’t know what it wants to be or how to get there emotionally.
The most egregious act is the love story itself. Jinny and Riley were interesting enough that watching them grow together and learn to love each other would have been more interesting than the three-and-a-half-minute speed run we get, as Dennis cuts the screen in half and places the two lovers on either side of a dry montage. The only hints at blooming affection are a laugh from Jinny, whose punchline we never get to hear, a wry smile from Riley, knowing his charm is working, and a few dull text messages. How are we supposed to grow with the characters and become invested in their love story if the love story is thrown on fast-forward without any emotional weight behind it? Well, you can’t, and our interest in the characters wavers because of it.
The unfocused aspects of character in the film are a theme here, as I, for one, cannot figure out if this film wants to be a romance, a rom-com, or a hard-hitting familial drama about the relationship between tradition and contemporaneity. If it’s a romance, where’s the passion? If it’s a rom-com, where are the laughs? And if it’s a drama, where is the deep character study and conflict? The toughest thing to watch is the relationship between Riley and his father, who suffers from alcohol abuse. Flying off the handle and snapping at a moment’s notice at loved ones may be some people’s experience with the subject. Still, the way it is portrayed is not only stereotypical but feels lazy and only there to serve as a plot point for some trauma that Riley has to overcome before he can turn over a new leaf and thus reveal his character development. Unfortunately, for his father, his character remains flat and never rises above the abusive alcoholic he has become.
As much as Sweet Summer Pow Wow fails on many fundamental levels, there are still traces of ideas and moments that, if amplified, would have contributed greatly and helped it punch up from its current place. The dance choreography during the Pow Wow circuit and Jinny’s more modern interpretive iteration of dance are, unfortunately, few and far between for any meaningful impact on her character and story, which is all the more upsetting, considering that those brief few minutes we got were the closest I felt to her and her dream of moving to Toronto to become a dancer. If we had more time to watch her develop her skills, she might have had a more rounded out character. The standout moment and what really drove the theme of tradition home was the dropping of the ceremonial eagle feather during her Pow Wow dance (the dropping of a ceremonial eagle feather is considered disrespectful and represents a fallen warrior), showing her heart wasn’t fully into the community practices. As she became continually pressured by the community and family, it was finally something I could grasp onto and understand the desires Jinny was reaching for.
Sweet Summer Pow Wow wants to do too many things and tell too many stories at once, leaving it an unfocused, wavering mess that lacks many emotional and interesting moments and is unable to sustain the more interesting moments this film barely balances on. Reducing the core conflict and characterization to a quick aside alienates the viewer, leaving them feeling as though the film is talking at them rather than getting lost in the world the filmmakers intended.
Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the Pow Wow M.C. Graham Greene, the wonderful character actor who starred in many films spanning decades, like Dances with Wolves (1990), The Green Mile (1999), Wind River (2017), and Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995). Sadly, Greene passed away on September 1st, 2025, at the age of 73. His warm, genuinely fun character as M.C., cracking jokes and adding the much-needed laughs in Sweet Summer Pow Wow, would be one of his last films.
Sweet Summer Pow Wow is nominated for one Canadian Screen Award.
Where to Watch
Sweet Summer Pow Wow was viewed on Crave
Also worth checking: CBC Gem (often carries Canadian titles not listed elsewhere).
about the author
Merrick Gajdics is founder, publisher and editor of The Canadian Film Reviewer.