B+Directed by Gavin O'Connor Starring Ben Affleck Review by Jon Kissel |  |
Gavin O’Connor’s three sports movies have moved from the straightforward Miracle to sports-as-therapy male weepie Warrior. O’Connor’s newest film, The Way Back, follows a similar track as Warrior wherein some kind of medical extremity forces a character with father issues through a physical transformation, only to find some kind of clarity through sports. It’s a more interesting tack than the head-down, work-hard, believe-in-yourself messaging so many lesser sports movies engage in. In fact, endless wind sprints won’t cure one’s alcohol problems and profane anger directed towards referees isn’t an appropriate way of releasing stress and pressure. Featuring a career-best performance from Ben Affleck in a period of his life that mirrors his character, The Way Back is less triumphant buzzer-beater and more incremental improvement over the course of a season. The former leaves the viewer in a cheerier place, but the latter contains far more truth.
Affleck plays Jack Cunningham, a beefy blue-collar guy who regularly has to get driven home from bars. The embodiment of Bruce Banner’s ‘I’m always angry’ line, Jack operates on a hair trigger, instantly flipping from numbed to furious. In more productive times of his life, he was a star high school basketball prospect, and his old Catholic school needs him to coach the team after the last coach suffers a heart attack mid-season. Jack accepts though he makes no changes to his profanity or his drinking, attracting withering looks from the team chaplain for the cursing and for his suspiciously sloppy appearance at practices. The team, undersized and understaffed, begins to see results from Jack’s reliance on a suffocating defensive strategy, but moderate success and admiration isn’t enough to rattle Jack out of his stupor, the reasons for which become painfully clear over the course of the film.
Something akin to Bad News Bears meets Manchester By the Sea doesn’t sound like a winning combination, but O’Connor and Affleck make it work with a constant emphasis on what Jack’s behavior looks like to others. His assistant, a teacher played by Al Madrigal, is put in conflict when he finds beer cans in Jack’s trash can. The back of his bar buddy, played by Glynn Turman, can’t be in good shape after helping Jack inside his house night after night. His antics aren’t charming and would be destined for a bad end even if the film had a lighter tone. O’Connor pumps the brakes when it comes to Jack’s players, making him a fine coach who’s invested in their lives while keeping his personal problems at a reasonable distance. His sin towards the kids is that he’s inconstant and a poor model, but he’s not cruel to them, a vital distinction that would make a wounded and reckless character into a deplorable one. Affleck brings a rugged, sleepy, occasionally volcanic charisma to the role, the kind that can fool a kid but not an adult.
As the balance of the film begin to shift from a who-saved-who sports film towards something better and more meaningful, O’Connor gets more comfortable. One wonders when he drops the sports motif altogether and just makes the harrowing medical drama he so clearly wants to make. As with Warrior, the characters come pre-loaded with painful pasts that could’ve justified their own films, and he covers up the potential for exposition with chilling, unromantic details that must come from real experiences. The most memorable line in The Way Back isn’t about the virtues of a full court press. The basketball scenes are choppy and lack a strong sense of geography or strategy, but quieter and simpler scenes place O’Connor in full control alongside his star. Affleck’s press tour for The Way Back put him in an honest and soul-baring mode rarely seen from a big movie star, and it’s appropriate that this film, with its clear-eyed depiction of personal stasis and retreat, would prompt him to do so. O’Connor, able to get these kind of great performances out of his actors, has a masterpiece in him. This isn’t quite it, but he’s getting closer. B+
Something akin to Bad News Bears meets Manchester By the Sea doesn’t sound like a winning combination, but O’Connor and Affleck make it work with a constant emphasis on what Jack’s behavior looks like to others. His assistant, a teacher played by Al Madrigal, is put in conflict when he finds beer cans in Jack’s trash can. The back of his bar buddy, played by Glynn Turman, can’t be in good shape after helping Jack inside his house night after night. His antics aren’t charming and would be destined for a bad end even if the film had a lighter tone. O’Connor pumps the brakes when it comes to Jack’s players, making him a fine coach who’s invested in their lives while keeping his personal problems at a reasonable distance. His sin towards the kids is that he’s inconstant and a poor model, but he’s not cruel to them, a vital distinction that would make a wounded and reckless character into a deplorable one. Affleck brings a rugged, sleepy, occasionally volcanic charisma to the role, the kind that can fool a kid but not an adult.
As the balance of the film begin to shift from a who-saved-who sports film towards something better and more meaningful, O’Connor gets more comfortable. One wonders when he drops the sports motif altogether and just makes the harrowing medical drama he so clearly wants to make. As with Warrior, the characters come pre-loaded with painful pasts that could’ve justified their own films, and he covers up the potential for exposition with chilling, unromantic details that must come from real experiences. The most memorable line in The Way Back isn’t about the virtues of a full court press. The basketball scenes are choppy and lack a strong sense of geography or strategy, but quieter and simpler scenes place O’Connor in full control alongside his star. Affleck’s press tour for The Way Back put him in an honest and soul-baring mode rarely seen from a big movie star, and it’s appropriate that this film, with its clear-eyed depiction of personal stasis and retreat, would prompt him to do so. O’Connor, able to get these kind of great performances out of his actors, has a masterpiece in him. This isn’t quite it, but he’s getting closer. B+
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