The sunlight over Los Angeles looks unusually gray and muted throughout “The Way Back,” set largely in the isolated coastal neighborhood of San Pedro, where, in the late 1920s, homes toppled into the ocean. Although “The Way Back” takes place in the present, a sense of disordered lives pervades this tough-minded studio film, which has the outward trappings of an inspirational sports drama but is primarily a recovery movie. The star, Ben Affleck, has been open about drawing on his own experiences with drinking for the role.
As the “The Way Back” begins — with a faint clamor of drilling and trucks before the first shot comes up — Affleck’s character, Jack, is working on a construction site. He is already deep into alcoholism, keeping a dedicated spot in his shower for a beer can. His wife (Janina Gavankar), from whom he has separated, uses his sister (Michaela Watkins) as a go-between. Jack is given to explosions of anger.
Then an unexpected opportunity arises: Father Devine (John Aylward), who runs the Catholic high school where Jack was once a basketball star, informs him that the coach has had a heart attack. Will Jack step in to help the team, which hasn’t been to the playoffs since he was a student?
In a bracing sequence, Jack rehearses saying no as he pours back beer after beer from his fridge. Then the movie, in one of several unexpected elisions, jumps past his saying yes; he simply shows up for work. And for a while, coaching appears to help him control his boozing.
Per genre convention, Jack is charged with bringing discipline to a ragtag group. He sees a potential team captain in Brandon (Brandon Wilson), the taciturn son of a once-promising player (T.K. Carter) Jack remembers. He finds a friendly colleague in the assistant coach (Al Madrigal). And although Jack’s salty language and encouragement of roughhousing by the young men — “I will not coach a team that has been out-toughed,” he tells them — is perhaps dubious as coaching, the team does improve, and Jack’s hard edges help “The Way Back” avoid a sense of squeaky-clean uplift.
The movie is directed by Gavin O’Connor, whose mixed-martial-arts drama “Warrior” (2011) also brimmed with grit and a sense of place. Working from a script by Brad Ingelsby, O’Connor finds ways to keep viewers subtly off guard; just when you think “The Way Back” will turn into a Big Game movie, it reverts to being an addiction drama (and then goes back again).
The volleying structure comes with one giant, regrettable flaw: The movie withholds a crucial bit of back story in early scenes only to drop it like an anvil later on. Since the revelation is known to the characters the whole time, the decision to deploy it as a surprise is cheap and shameless — a blatant foul in a movie otherwise filled with smoothly executed plays.
The Way Back
Rated R. Heavy drinking throughout and drunken driving. Running time: 1 hour 48 minutes.
"back" - Google News
March 04, 2020 at 09:00PM
https://ift.tt/2IiY6Hp
‘The Way Back’ Review: Seeking Redemption on the Basketball Court - The New York Times
"back" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2QNOfxc
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "‘The Way Back’ Review: Seeking Redemption on the Basketball Court - The New York Times"
Post a Comment