[I review "The Beautiful Game (football/soccer)," "The Boys in the Boat (rowing)," and "The Iron Claw (wrestling)"]
The Beautiful Game (2024)
A fictionalized story about a soccer team playing in the Homeless World Cup.
Yes, this is a fictionalized story but the Homeless World Cup is a real thing. It is an annual football tournament (soccer to us Americans) that has been going on for two decades that advocates for and brings together homeless people, those in recovery and those who have been marginalized. And this British film shines a light on it.
We meet Vinny (Micheal Ward) at a kids' soccer game (sorry, my Brit friends. I know I am supposed to say football). He is doing his own commentary on the game. He even goes so far as to join the game until an angry parent confronts him.
Mal Bradley (Bill Nighy), a once legendary but now retired soccer coach, arrives and extricates Vinny from the angry parent. He introduces Vinnie to his "dream team," the team he is training for a trip to the Homeless World Cup in Rome. Bradley recognizes Vinny's skills and invites him to join the team. Vinny acts unimpressed and he insists he doesn't qualify, that he is not homeless. His pride takes over, but Bradley leaves Vinnie his number.
Turns out that Vinny is not only homeless and lives in his car, he also had a brief football career, hence his footballer skills that Bradley noticed. But Vinny didn't make it as a soccer player and his life took a bad detour.
Vinny didn't really want any part of Bradley's team at first but eventually relents, and off they go to Rome. Vinny is impressed that the opening ceremony is almost like the Olympics with the event featuring teams of unhoused players from all over the world.
We get to know the England team. They are a ragtag bunch and all have had their troubles. Nathan (Callum Scott Howells) is a perpetually optimistic ex-heroin addict; Cal (Kit Young) doesn't like Vinny coming onto the team and taking his place; Aldar (Robin Nazari) is a brilliant Syrian refugee constantly analyzing the game and trying to build a life in a new country; Jason (Sheyi Cole) is a rather meek guy and Kevin (Tom Vaughan-Lawlor) is the okay goal tender. But none of these guys really have skills. Vinny does. And this is Vinny's story and it's also Bradley's story. Turns out Bradley had a connection to Vinny years ago.
So will the England team win? Will Vinny find himself?
There is lots of soccer footage, though on a smaller scale than we are used to, but the film isn't just about football. The film, written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce and directed by Thea Sharrock, is more about real life underdogs, people who have been marginalized, finding meaning for themselves through community and friendship and, yes, sport.
The ensemble cast are believable and Bill Nighy is as charismatic as ever. I will watch him in anything.
So why is football (soccer) called "The Beautiful Game?"
The grace and flair of the sport; its inclusiveness; its unpredictability (lower ranked teams can beat higher ranked teams - and they do!); its simplicity - just a ball and the desire to play; and traditions passed down through generations that are a part of cultural identity.
This film embraces all of that.
Rosy the Reviewer says...if you are a soccer fan or if you believe that sport brings people together and unites them or you just like to root for underdogs, you will enjoy this heartwarming story and find it inspiring. (Netflix)
The Boys in the Boat (2023)
Produced and directed by George Clooney, from a screenplay by Mark L. Smith and based on the book by the same name by Daniel James Brown, this is another one of those tales of an underdog sports team making it to the top, and despite some hokeyness from time to time, there is nothing like some good old-fashioned storytelling and some exciting races to get you rooting for your team.
The film begins with an elderly Joe Rantz (Ian McElhinney) watching his grandson rowing a fiberglass boat and, in flashback, we are back in 1936 and a young Joe (Callum Turner) is a poor engineering student at the University of Washington with no money and living in an abandoned car and worried about how he will come up with his tuition. Joe has been on his own since his mother died and his Dad abandoned him when he was 14.
But then fellow struggling student Roger Morris (Sam Strike) tells Joe that the school's rowing team provides room and board and jobs. So why not? Despite not being rowers, the two try out and make the UW junior varsity team. Turns out this is the year that coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton) is under pressure to beat rival U.C. Berkeley and make it to the 1936 Olympics.
The JV team and the varsity team train together and the training is very, very tough but the JV team starts to outshine the varsity team and Coach Al risks his job to promote the JV team. There are lots of exciting boat races as the team makes its way to the Olympics.
So if you are not a sports fan, what makes this enjoyable?
It's beautiful to look at, the races are exciting, the actors are engaging and it's all about rooting for the underdogs! Even though you know how this ends, it's the journey (I say that a lot)!
Rosy the Reviewer says...though at times overly sentimental, this is an inspirational film that you can't help but be moved by - don't miss the epilogue that features the real rowers. (Netflix)
The Iron Claw (2023)
Biopic about the Von Erich brothers, stars of professional wrestling in the 1980's, who were "cursed" by tragedy.
This is not a movie featuring fake wrestling which we have come to associate with professional wrestling. This is the real thing.
Written and directed by Sean Durkin, the film begins with Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany), who dreamed of winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. So naturally he dreams of that for one of his sons. Sadly, Jack Jr. died as a child but he pins his hopes on Kevin (Zac Efron), his good-hearted son; David (Harris Dickinson), the natural showman; the self-destructive, Kerry (Jeremy Allen White); and Mike (Stanley Simons), the youngest, who doesn't even want to wrestle, but rather play music. But he wants to please his Dad, who runs a tight ship with his sons, each vying to be the "favorite" as Fritz pits them against each other. Fritz would declare which son was the favorite depending on who pleased him most at any given time.
However, there seems to be a pall hanging over the family. The death of Jack Jr. is blamed on the "Von Erich curse," and sadly as the lives of these young men play out, one can't help but wonder if there is a curse, as accidents, illness and suicide follow them.
Fritz's signature name was "The Iron Claw," but it is also a metaphor for the hold wrestling had on the family and the tragedies that followed.
It's an excellent cast with a bulked up Zac Ephron and Jeremy Allen White (without his chef's apron) as standouts along with a really great 80's soundtrack, exciting wrestling footage and a poignant fantasy scene at the end when the brothers all meet again. I cried.
Rosy the Reviewer says...even if you are not a wrestling fan, you will be drawn into this powerful family drama and care about these brothers who just wanted above all else to please their curse of a father.
Thanks for reading!
