LeBron James is a credited producer on Rez Ball (now on Netflix), a name that’ll lend any basketball movie instant credibility. Directed by Sydney Freeland, the film is inspired by the book Canyon Dreams: A Basketball Season on the Navajo Nation, New York Times writer Michael Powell’s nonfiction high-school sports chronicle set on Native American reservations in the American Southwest. The phrase “rez ball” is a direct reference to the style of aggressive, fast-paced play associated with the region – but don’t expect the movie to quite mirror that M.O., especially since it renders the story from the book into fiction that rarely strays from the underdog-sports-movie formula.
REZ BALL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
The Gist: The inspirational tones are there right at the beginning: Gorgeous establishing shots of orange-red desert, sweeping strings on the score, two best bros playfully jawing at each other as they shoot hoops in the driveway. Those guys are Jimmy Holiday (Kauchani Bratt) and Nataanii Jackson (Kusem Goodwind), the stars and leaders of the Chuska Warriors basketball team. Nataanii still mourns his mother and sister, who died after a drunk driver hit them, and lives with his father Ronald (Ryan Begay), who runs the local body shop. Jimmy has a rocky relationship with his mother Gloria (Julia Jones), who struggles with alcoholism and, presumably, depression. The Warriors’ coach is Heather Hobbs (Jessica Matten), who made it off the reservation to play in the WNBA; her goal of being a college hoops coach are yet to be realized, and her long-distance girlfriend just pulled the plug on the relationship.
Jimmy and Nataanii smoke a doob in celebration of leading the Warriors to a win – but Nataanii is downcast. He talks about “getting out,” and Jimmy interprets it as their usual discussion about leaving the rez to play college ball. But we know Nataanii’s talking about getting out of life itself, and sure enough, he doesn’t turn up for the next day’s game. Without their captain, the Warriors get utterly trounced by their rivals, whose star player isn’t above telling Jimmy, “You look like the guy who cleans my pool.” And then the bad news about Nataanii comes.
How can they move on? They almost surely have before – suicide is an epidemic on reservations. Jimmy steps up as captain and Heather tries to motivate the team, but it’s a struggle and the Warriors trudge through an ugly winless streak. Heather rethinks the situation, and decides they need to A) change their playing style, and B) lean into their Navajo heritage. And so lessons are learned when the girls’ team, which plays uptempo “rez ball,” beats the guys in a scrimmage; and when Heather drops the boys at a farm and forces them to communicate and use teamwork to round up a herd of runaway sheep. Jimmy, who never bothered to learn the Navajo language, takes it upon himself to finally learn it, and starts calling out plays on the court in their native tongue. Is this a recipe for a midseason turnaround? Sure seems like it!
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Friday Night Lights is one of the touchstones of this variation of the inspirational sports drama; it, too, is a high-school sports saga based on a nonfiction book. And although there isn’t much in the way of sports in FX’s Reservation Dogs, the vibes are definitely comparable.
Performance Worth Watching: Bratt – nephew of Benjamin Bratt – is a rock-solid anchor for this story, and gives an earnest, winning performance that belies the fact that it’s his debut acting role.
Memorable Dialogue: Heather leads the Warriors with this mantra: “Run fast, shoot fast, don’t ever stop.”
Sex and Skin: None.
Our Take: Rez Ball is a win for cultural representation, which freshens up a significantly well-worn sports-movie template. Freeland’s attention to detail while directing on-court action gives the film additional conviction – the Warriors often look and act like legit athletes – as the screenplay establishes the underdogs, puts the underdogs through requisite trials and tribulations, then lets the underdogs work through myriad difficulties on the way to, you and I and they hope, victory. (No spoilers here, thanks!) The film embeds unfortunately common reservation-life hardships into the fabric of the story and setting – suicide and alcholism – without being overly melodramatic, which adds shade and nuance to the text.
So Rez Ball plays out with a little more resonant poignancy than your typical rah-rah go-get-’em sports story. Of course, it indulges many cliches of the typical rah-rah go-get-’em sports story – uplifting montages, radio-broadcast patter functioning as expository narration, supporting characters inspired by the team to improve themselves, the against-the-odds comeback that leads to one final showdown with the rival-villain team and goes down to the absolute last shot at the last second. But warm, likable characters, savvy direction and an emphasis on endearing sincerity over heavy-handed schmaltz goes a long way toward making this one a winner.
Our Call: Rez Ball isn’t a slamdunk or a buzzer-beating three of a movie. But a couple of clutch free throws midway through the fourth? Sure. STREAM IT.
John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.