The Women’s World Cup might have been among the most entertaining sports events so far this year. Obviously, there’s still the college football season and MLB playoffs yet to come, but this World Cup had many compelling stories. When the U.S. team wasn’t playing, I was pulling for the heavy underdog: a spirited and determined Japanese team…until they played the U.S. Yes, I’m disappointed the U.S. didn’t win it all, but at least they lost the final to a humble Japanese team, as opposed to an overconfident Swedish team or in an even earlier nail-biter against Brazil.
All of this got me thinking about women’s sports movies. The initial goal was to write about how movies showing women in sports can send a positive message for young female audience members. But I can’t get behind such a sentiment when there hasn’t been a truly great American female sports movie. Maybe “Million Dollar Baby,” even though it’s riddled with clichés including Clint Eastwood grumbling about not coaching girls, is the best we have as of now. And even that is lifted from mediocrity in part by strong direction from a male no less, (although Hilary Swank’s performance is particularly noteworthy too). And while “A League of Their Own” has its moments, I can’t call it good; not when the most famous scene is Tom Hanks hamming up a speech about “no crying in baseball.”
What is most frustrating is this: there are plenty of talented female filmmakers and plenty of great male sports movies, so why aren’t there any great American female sports movies?
Kathryn Bigelow, probably most notable for directing the Oscar-winning “The Hurt Locker,” could make a movie about an Abby Wambach-type character: indomitable on the field, growing up in a blue-collar city, the youngest of seven children and a bit of a tomboy. Hey, Bigelow’s already mastered surfers in “Point Break,” why not soccer?
Kelly Reichardt, whose latest film “Meek’s Cutoff” just played at the Bama Theatre this past Sunday, could make a character-driven movie about Hope Solo and handle all the controversy and off-the-field personal issues that have risen through the years without sensationalizing it or insulting an audience member’s intelligence.
I recently saw the movie “Gracie.” My expectations were pretty level going in because I hadn’t heard much about it and the movie left me feeling ho-hum. After her brother dies in a car accident (this happens roughly twelve minutes into the movie, so I’m not revealing a big spoiler – hate it when people do), Gracie Bowen decides she’s going to try both figuratively and literally to fill his shoes on the varsity boys’ soccer team. The high school she attends, Columbia, doesn’t have a girls’ team.
The underdog slant is terribly predictable and the woman having to fight to survive in a man’s world offered no new angles that haven’t been done many times before. The same angle works in the non-sports related “North Country” because the movie takes unexpected turns and features a fine performance from Chalize Theron.
Maybe I’ll write a future column about excellent male-dominated American sports films, like “Sugar” or “Raging Bull” or the outstanding documentary “Hoop Dreams,” or maybe even go with the British film “The Damned United” or the little-seen Brazilian soccer-themed “The Year My Parents Went on Vacation.” I’d like to because this World Cup was completely captivating, but I simply can’t say the same about women’s sports films. I do hope one day that will change.
