'Rez Ball' Review: This Surefire Crowd-Pleaser Charts New Ground in the Sports Genre [TIFF 2024]
THIS HIGH-PROFILE SPORTS FILM FINDS GREAT SPIRIT IN ITS AUTHENTIC CONNECTIONS TO CHARACTER AND CULTURE
The ensemble cast of REZ BALL.
The sports genre of film is one that often gets characterized as sterile, or formulaic, with the same sorts of story beats being remixed from film to film with only minor variations, all feeling relatively similar. One may even feel this sort of way about the genre upon seeing the influx of other sports dramas at the TIFF Festival, such as Unstoppable, The Fire Inside, and The Cut. Rez Ball however, is able to strongly distinctify itself and stand tall in a crowded genre at the TIFF Festival this year.
Rez Ball follows the story of the Chuska Warriors, a high-school basketball team hailing from the Navajo Nation, who must rebound both as a team and as individuals after the unexpected and tragic passing of their star player. The duration of the film follows this process of the Warriors learning to rebound, (in more ways than one) lead by their coach, former WNBA player and Navajo Nation native Heather Hobbs (Jessica Matten, Dark Winds). The journey to victory is personally rooted in catharsis for the team, doing so to win in honour of their late teammate Nataanii Jackson (newcomer Kusem Goodwind), learning to embrace their cultural heritage and incorporate it into their on-court lives.
Rez Ball operates well-enough as a traditional sort of sports film, with director Sydney Freeland (Reservation Dogs, Echo) capturing the essence and charisma of the underdog spirit by channeling the best of her young cast, many of whom are relative newcomers or even first-time actors, with a stellar debut performance from Kauchani Bratt at the forefront. Basketball fans in particular are sure to appreciate Freeland’s attention to detail and unique eye for shooting the game itself, with a slew of kinetic, fluid and frankly refreshing basketball scenes, many of which are performed in-camera, an impressive and rare feat for the genre which works to accentuate Rez Ball as a whole. Specific basketball tactics, such as the “7-seconds or less offence'“ are featured directly, in ways that are sure to please hardcore fans of the sport, but also feel accessible to those with a more basic understanding of basketball.
With the film being shepherded by Indigenous talent both in-front and behind the camera, Rez Ball is able to tap into Indigenous, more specifically Navajo experiences to shape a distinct identity that makes the whole film sing. Sports-film training montages or sequences are a dime a dozen, so-to-speak, with the same sorts of trials and tribulations being represented. Rez Ball harkens back on the best of these sequences by infusing the Navajo culture and language into the story, with one of the film’s big standout moments being a training montage in which the Chuska Warriors learn to memorize their team playbook in the Navajo language to shield their tactics from their opponents. The team also incorporates many other lessons from their Navajo elders on their emotional journeys, and these callbacks end up being very emotionally resonant.
Where Rez Ball truly shines is when it’s able to take a step back. While shining as a feel-good sports film, it also does take time to breathe with its characters, all of whom are dealing with their collective hardship of grief for their late team leader. Rez Ball can ultimately be characterized as a crowd-pleaser, but never shies away from the tough nature of its story, not only with its focus on overcoming grief, but also shedding light on larger systemic issues and showcasing authentic interpersonal and familial conflicts, none of which are treated lightly or with picture-perfect happy endings. However, certain emotional beats fail to land with the same impact as the high-energy basketball scenes.
The film’s two lead performances, Jessica Matten as Coach Hobbs, and Kauchani Bratt as star player Jimmy Holiday, truly anchor the already-strong emotional core with their parallel journeys of personal catharsis, and needing to prove something to both themselves and their communities. Matten in particular provides such an incredible, lived-in gravitas to the film, playing both the traditional coaching moments and her individual scenes with such a captivating, easy-to-root for energy.
Rez Ball, despite its nuances, is still beholden to a lot of genre cliches all the same, but the film does a conscious job of not getting lost in them for too long at a time. As a whole, Rez Ball is a strong sports-film which carves out its own niches and glides on a excess of well-executed filmmaking and inherent charisma from its cast, resulting in a surefire festival hit, and could easily be a film that would deservedly earn the title of a new basketball classic.