BEFORE: Well, the Olympics are over, but honestly I barely noticed that they were on, EXCEPT for the fact that my late night talk shows were on hiatus, one because its network was running the Olympics and the other because, well, who wants to compete with that ratings juggernaut? Look, if I had more time then I might have just scrolled late at night through several channels, looking for an interesting sport like archery or, I don't know, water polo? Table tennis? Most of the Olympics sports just aren't my thing, anything with running, swimming, diving, nope, nope, nope. Wrestling? Meh, not for me. Shot-put, javelin, maybe, there's at least chance of a serious injury on the javelin field, but I don't care about gymnastics, no matter how many other people seem to like it. I know basketball's really popular with U.S. fans because our country both invented and perfected the game, but still, really, yawn city.
Really, the only two movie nods to sports I've been able to come up with over the last few weeks were the documentary about Billie Jean King (who coached the U.S. tennis team at some point) and now this one about soccer - but yeah, I realize it's about a country trying to qualify for the World Cup, not the Olympics. But the World Cup is two (?) years away, and I don't want to wait that long to watch this one, it looks funny. And yeah, it was screened at the theater where I work during one of the Tuesday night film appreciation classes, and yeah, I worked that screening. So I'm still playing catch up by watching this, "The Son" and "Rebel Moon: Part One". Other films I worked screenings for might still be on my list, I'm not sure. I can't use that as a standard for selecting my movies for much longer, it's driving me a bit crazy not knowing whether I'll be able to link up with my horror chain or not. I can drift for a little while longer, like I have a chain that should get me to the end of August, but after that I'll really have to put in some time making sure I WILL be able to link to the October movies. It takes time to figure this stuff out. Yesterday's movie also reminded me that Christmas is just 88 movies away, so it's time to start going through cast lists and adding some more possible Christmas movies to the list.
Kaitlyn Dever carries over from "Good Grief".
THE PLOT: The story of the infamously terrible American Samoa soccer team, known for a brutal 2001 FIFA match that they lost 31-0.
AFTER: There's a lot to like here, like many Americans I'm a bit fascinated with Taika Waititi, he's great as Korg in the Marvel movies, and I love the way he talks, all dead-pan and such, but still he's very very funny. He directed "Next Goal Wins" and gave himself a cameo as a preacher on the very religious island of American Samoa (and I learned tonight that the emphasis really needs to be on the "Sam" syllable, good to know). Yes, I know that Waititi comes from New Zealand, and that's a different island, but he's got this Pacific Islander humor, and that carries over into this film and makes it very entertaining. The Samoans are never portrayed as dumb or ignorant, but instead as simple people who believe in being happy and following your truth, and that if you enjoy what you do, then it's not really work, or something to that effect.
(This movie was not filmed in American SAM-oa, or even New Zealand, from the cast list I'd say it was filmed in Hawaii. OK, that's another place on Earth that's known for being a vacation wonderland and also relatively stress-free, as long as you don't count the volcanoes or that big fire they had a year ago, or apparently a bunch of billionaires buying up all the land from the native people as I've learned tonight from the John Oliver show, also a homeless problem, but hey, if you're going to be homeless, Hawaii might be a pretty nice place to be homeless, then again who knows?)
The story is true, there was even a documentary, also titled "Next Goal Wins", made about the team from American Samoa that hired coach Thomas Rongen to help them in their effort to qualify for the 2014 World Cup, despite being regarded as one of the worst national soccer teams in the world, having suffered a 31-0 loss to the Australian team in 2001, and another humiliating defeat in the 2011 Pacific Games. I can't really watch the documentary, because there's no way for me to link out of it - I didn't realize we'd see the real coach Rongen near the end of this film, but he's there, so I could link TO that film, I just can't link away from it.
The American Samoan team at the time also featured a transgender player, or I guess the right term is a player who was transitioning at the time, who was born male but identified as female. In Samoa they treat such people as something akin to a third gender, called a fa'afafine, which translates as "in the manner of female", so a male acting as a female, who is attracted to men. And this is generally more accepted in some countries, like American Samoa and I think Thailand. Coach Rongen doesn't really understand it at first, he mistaked Jaiyah for a woman, and wonders why "she" shows up for practice with the men's team. But over time he comes to understand Jaiyah a little more, or at least is confused a little less.
But Coach Rongen really has his work cut out for him, trying to bring discipline and athleticism to a ragtag team of players who don't really have much of either one. It's a different society, sure, and in addition to them learning from him, he ends up learning from them, he becomes a better teacher and motivator after he learns more about their islander ways. And it's a simple goal, just one goal, and that is to have the team score one goal, which for them is just not as easy as it sounds. In the qualifying match against Tonga, the team appears to have forgotten everything he taught them and they revert to their previous "team that can't shoot straight" ways, so after quitting as their coach during half-time, Rongen realizes that the team just can't handle stress, and once he tells them to just go out and have fun, be themselves and enjoy the game, then they actually might have a chance.
He also has to realize that he hasn't fully opened up to the team, and thus the match against Tonga becomes part of his healing process, too - we learn that the voice messages from his daughter that the coach listens to are actually old saved messages, and that his daughter died in an accident two years ago. But he's finally ready to talk about it, which is great news for him but also very bad timing, because there's a soccer match going on. Great timing for me, though, because yesterday's film also had the same plot point, with a loved one dying in a car accident, so the theme week just got extended one more day.
There's a lot of tension in the second half of the game against Tonga, the score is tied when a major character comes down with heatstroke, so we all learn about the end of the game when he does, and honestly we're all probably just as curious about whether these Bad News Bears of soccer managed to finally win a game, and if so, how did they do it? And can their goalie keep it together, or does that 31-0 loss still haunt him, every time he steps into the net? And will Coach Rongen stay in American Samoa or look for another coaching gig elsewhere? No spoilers here, but I recommend tracking this one down on Hulu or On Demand and finding out for yourself.
Also starring Michael Fassbender (last seen in "Deadpool & Wolverine"), Oscar Kightley (last seen in "Hunt for the Wilderpeople"), Rhys Darby (ditto), Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House (last seen in "Penguin Bloom"), Beulah Koale, Taika Waititi (last seen in "Stan Lee"), Will Arnett (last seen in "When In Rome"), Elisabeth Moss (last seen in "Us"), Uli Latukefu (last seen in "Black Adam"), Sisa Grey (last seen in "The Descendents"), Semu Filipo, Chris Alosio, Lehi Makisi Falepapalangi, Ioane Goodhue, Hio Pelesasa, Wil Kahele, Luke Hemsworth (last seen in "Thor: Love and Thunder"), Angus Sampson (last seen in "Mad Max; Fury Road"), Levy Tuiala, Jonathan J.I. Knox, Loretta Ables Sayre, Don Nahaku (last seen in "A Very Brady Sequel"), Armani Makaiwa, David Tu'itupou, Frankie Adams (last seen in "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets") with archive footage of Al Pacino (last seen in "Sly"), Thomas Rongen.
RATING: 7 out of 10 dreamcatchers sold at the convenience store
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