November 16, 2023
FILM: NEXT GOAL WINS
DIRECTED BY: TAIKA WAITITI
STARRING: MICHAEL FASSBENDER, OSCAR KIGHTLEY, KAIMANA
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Taika Waititi has an Oscar under his belt for his last feature film, Jo Jo Rabbit. He’s also created a few very good, high-concept television comedies with What We Do in the Shadows, Reservation Dogs, and Our Flag Means Death. As a fan, I came into his latest offering, Next Goal Wins, with fairly high expectations and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s not quite as big a scale as Jo Jo Rabbit, but it does feature an interesting social perspective and, frankly, it’s a fun film!
Michael Fassbender stars as Thomas Rongen, a soccer coach who gets fired from his gig in the U.S. and is forced to take the only job available to him as coach to a terrible team in American Samoa. The film is based on the true story of the team that in 2001 had the worst defeat in World Cup qualifying history, losing 31-0. (As a soccer fan myself, I’ve rarely ever seen a professional team score more than 10 goals in a game. So, to lose by that much really says something about the quality of the team!) Rongen arrives in the country and is dumbfounded by just how bad the team actually is. As he is also dealing with some significant personal issues, including a separation from his wife, played by Elisabeth Moss, Rongen is not feeling particularly motivated to do the work required to get this group into shape. Ultimately, Next Goal Wins follows a fairly standard and predictable trajectory that is very crowd pleasing.
If some of this sounds a bit like Ted Lasso or Welcome to Wrexham, well it is: Americans arrive to “save” teams in other countries. Never mind that the U.S. doesn’t have the best soccer league in the world but there are some great coaches out there. The difference here is that American Samoa is an entirely different kind of culture than what we find in the United Kingdom or even the U.S. First off, they don’t have a history of internationally recognized soccer (or more accurately, football) teams. Second, its culture allows for different ways of looking at the sport and has its own customs. At one point, for instance, training must stop for the country wide time period for prayer. This is, in part, is what Waititi does quite well here. As an indigenous person, himself from New Zealand, the writer/director is sensitive to cultures and their customs that might not be recognizable or understood in other places. This is true in most of his works. In What We Do in the Shadows a group of vampires lives among “average” Americans on the East Coast. Our Flag Means Death features mostly gay and transgender pirates fighting and cavorting in the high seas. The characters in Reservation Dogs are Native Americans full of their own traditions living in Oklahoma. Waititi is not afraid to bend the rules of television and film genres. He incorporates the cultures into the settings they find themselves in rather than requiring them to be something they are not.
This is particularly true in the case of the character Jaiyah, played magnificently by non-binary actor Kaimana. Jaiyah has begun hormone treatments in a transition from male to female. Rongen, being the straight white guy that he is, mistakes Jaiyah for a woman without being aware that her treatment is not yet complete. As such, he suggests she shouldn’t be playing but Jaiyah has power and speed on the field and all of the other players seem to get along with Jaiyah beautifully. Rongen comes around and Jaiyah becomes a hero and inspiration for the team. It’s a pretty significant step forward in the depiction of a transgender character on screen. Ultimately, it is this empathy on Rongen’s part that allows his team to improve: He recognizes the variances around him and incorporates them into his work.
That said, this isn’t a heavy-handed film in any way. Waititi has a lot of fun with the characters and their small community where many of them have multiple jobs and keep popping up in different locations. The lightness of the film also extends to a few 1980s style montages where the characters train for an upcoming World Cup qualifier while trying to overcome some of their slapstick style inadequacies on the field.
It’s delightful film that may play the sports genre a bit by the numbers but does introduce us to some original on-screen characters and customs while never taking itself overly serious.
Next Goal Wins opens theatrically this week.
FILM: NEXT GOAL WINS
DIRECTED BY: TAIKA WAITITI
STARRING: MICHAEL FASSBENDER, OSCAR KIGHTLEY, KAIMANA
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Taika Waititi has an Oscar under his belt for his last feature film, Jo Jo Rabbit. He’s also created a few very good, high-concept television comedies with What We Do in the Shadows, Reservation Dogs, and Our Flag Means Death. As a fan, I came into his latest offering, Next Goal Wins, with fairly high expectations and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s not quite as big a scale as Jo Jo Rabbit, but it does feature an interesting social perspective and, frankly, it’s a fun film!
Michael Fassbender stars as Thomas Rongen, a soccer coach who gets fired from his gig in the U.S. and is forced to take the only job available to him as coach to a terrible team in American Samoa. The film is based on the true story of the team that in 2001 had the worst defeat in World Cup qualifying history, losing 31-0. (As a soccer fan myself, I’ve rarely ever seen a professional team score more than 10 goals in a game. So, to lose by that much really says something about the quality of the team!) Rongen arrives in the country and is dumbfounded by just how bad the team actually is. As he is also dealing with some significant personal issues, including a separation from his wife, played by Elisabeth Moss, Rongen is not feeling particularly motivated to do the work required to get this group into shape. Ultimately, Next Goal Wins follows a fairly standard and predictable trajectory that is very crowd pleasing.
If some of this sounds a bit like Ted Lasso or Welcome to Wrexham, well it is: Americans arrive to “save” teams in other countries. Never mind that the U.S. doesn’t have the best soccer league in the world but there are some great coaches out there. The difference here is that American Samoa is an entirely different kind of culture than what we find in the United Kingdom or even the U.S. First off, they don’t have a history of internationally recognized soccer (or more accurately, football) teams. Second, its culture allows for different ways of looking at the sport and has its own customs. At one point, for instance, training must stop for the country wide time period for prayer. This is, in part, is what Waititi does quite well here. As an indigenous person, himself from New Zealand, the writer/director is sensitive to cultures and their customs that might not be recognizable or understood in other places. This is true in most of his works. In What We Do in the Shadows a group of vampires lives among “average” Americans on the East Coast. Our Flag Means Death features mostly gay and transgender pirates fighting and cavorting in the high seas. The characters in Reservation Dogs are Native Americans full of their own traditions living in Oklahoma. Waititi is not afraid to bend the rules of television and film genres. He incorporates the cultures into the settings they find themselves in rather than requiring them to be something they are not.
This is particularly true in the case of the character Jaiyah, played magnificently by non-binary actor Kaimana. Jaiyah has begun hormone treatments in a transition from male to female. Rongen, being the straight white guy that he is, mistakes Jaiyah for a woman without being aware that her treatment is not yet complete. As such, he suggests she shouldn’t be playing but Jaiyah has power and speed on the field and all of the other players seem to get along with Jaiyah beautifully. Rongen comes around and Jaiyah becomes a hero and inspiration for the team. It’s a pretty significant step forward in the depiction of a transgender character on screen. Ultimately, it is this empathy on Rongen’s part that allows his team to improve: He recognizes the variances around him and incorporates them into his work.
That said, this isn’t a heavy-handed film in any way. Waititi has a lot of fun with the characters and their small community where many of them have multiple jobs and keep popping up in different locations. The lightness of the film also extends to a few 1980s style montages where the characters train for an upcoming World Cup qualifier while trying to overcome some of their slapstick style inadequacies on the field.
It’s delightful film that may play the sports genre a bit by the numbers but does introduce us to some original on-screen characters and customs while never taking itself overly serious.
Next Goal Wins opens theatrically this week.