Eephus

Synopsis: As an imminent construction project looms over their beloved small-town baseball field, a pair of New England Sunday league teams face off for the last time over the course of a day. Tensions flare up and ceremonial laughs are shared as an era of camaraderie and escapism fades in to an uncertain future.

Review:

Truly impressive first film from Carson Lund, a nostalgic, poignant film that never tips into the saccharine as it sneaks into your heart. The film is ostensibly about the final game on a dilapidated baseball field that is used by local recreation baseball teams but the true heart of the film is that this is likely the end of these men’s traditions, camaraderie and maybe the little bit of youth they have left in their lives. A true ensemble piece, the film is full of characters and personalities without a single lead, lots of fun and quirky people but in the end you are left with a silhouette of the teams and impressions of the individual players and this allows us to feel like we could be a part of this film, story and teams. The film opens with a radio broadcaster that is reading local news and there are local ads and this immediately grounds us the viewers in the world of this film, small town north eastern America in the late 1990s. In the news we hear that the site of baseball field is going to be turned into a school for local children with the positive context that it will save parents from driving to the next town. The first person to arrive to the field is Franny, played by Cliff Blake who seemingly comes and keeps score, not as the official scorekeeper but for himself out of pure enjoyment of watching the game. As folks start to arrive some seem to acknowledge and chat with Franny but overall he seems like he is a feature of the baseball field as much as the bleachers or the pitching mound, as long as the field has games playing he will be here. The two teams that are playing in this film are the Riverdogs and Alder’s Paint and as we get around to the game beginning the umpire threatens to call for a forfeit because the Riverdogs only have eight players, we hear that Garrett said he was coming and they agree to start the game and put him up at the end of the batting order. Garrett, played by Chris Goodwin arrives just as his at bat takes place and he effortlessly floats in grabs a bat and sidles up to the plate.

We spend time sliding back and forth from the dugouts to the field and get to see tiny interactions that show us the audience who each of the players are based on that interaction. There are some folks that are watching the game, a few teenagers that are aggravating to the Riverdogs left fielder Rich Cole, played by Ray Hryb where he tells them to go bother the soccer players since he has a baseball bat. Previously we hear Rich on the bench in the dugout describing all aspects of anything the team is talking about as war and battle. Near the end of the game we hear the catcher of the Alder’s Paint team John Faiella, played by John R. Smith Jnr complaining about his knees and how much pain he is in, and he then explains that it is worth it, such a sweet and impactful small moment, also everytime he has to jump out from behind homeplate he spews a barrage of profanity in concern for what he has to do and his competence making the play over and over. Eventually the umpires call the game, they claim they aren’t paid overtime and the sun is going down, the teams decide to keep on playing. The teams decide that they will be on an honor system for calls with Franny as the final decision maker, this is a great acknowledgement of Franny and elevating his importance. Eventually the team can’t see at all and they pull all their cars around the diamond and light the felid so the final game doesn’t end, especially a tie game. The game ends when the bases are loaded and the final batter is walked, so the game ends with a whimper and then everyone heads quietly off, such a great, calm and subtle finish to a great movie.

This movie wasn’t really on my radar but my cousin is a huge baseball fan and is coming to town today and requested that I see this before she arrives so we can talk about it. I searched for a showtime and found that there was only one theater in the area that was available. So this leads to my first visit to the Cinema Arts Theatre a local, independent movie house, full of charm and small, individual theaters that are showing films that aren’t available at your local chain movie theater. So I now have a great film in my Letterboxd diary and a great local, independent movie theater in my life thanks to Carson for the experience and causing me to find Cinema Arts Theatre!