At first I looked at the poster’s green field and the title of "penalty kick". I thought it was a movie about football. It was a regular inspirational sports film in Hollywood, and the key to this game was the penalty kick afterwards. Only then did I realize that my instincts are really wrong, that people cannot look like, and they cannot be named. I also underestimated the choice of Pete, who claims to take three more movies and stop the shadows. Regardless of the film’s music, narrative tone and connotation, as well as the rigor of the script, I can’t help but think of "Social Network". As expected, the screenwriter of the film Alan Sorkin is the screenwriter of the social network. This film is also based on a biographical novel. As for the adaptation, another screenwriter, Steven Zelian, also wrote David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." If you say that social networks are high-profile and low-profile, then "Penalty Kick" is a low-level and high-profile.
The film described how baseball general manager Billy Bean led the Orlando Athletes (the Green Caps or White Caps) who lost in the last conference finals in the new season and did not enter the major leagues. The story of the final. It sounds like an inspiring and attempted premature ejaculation story, but you must know that the budget of the Green Caps, which is more profitable than the Yankees, is exaggerated. It is like a contest between peasant companies and multinational corporations, and the rare elites of peasant companies have started. They all jumped away from big companies, and Billy led the farmers’ enterprise board of directors as an old-fashioned village head. The village heads tried every means to recruit some college students to go to the countryside to revitalize the enterprise. Billy decisively scolded these old men, pinching their thinking that they were wrong! First of all, I don’t have money. Even if the talents come, I don’t have any equipment. We have to break up these old bottles and jars.
Later, Billy ran into a fat guy who had just graduated from university and was full of ambitions. He looked bored but had agitated thinking, which coincided with Billy. So the two used complex computer programs to analyze the game data and buy some cheap ones that no one cares about. Players, to fill in the overall strength of the entire team. However, this plan was strongly protested by the team's think tank. The old men felt that Billy did not look at the art of war to follow the recipe, and the team coach was determined not to cooperate with Billy's plan. As the team loses consecutively, Billy's prestige is shaky, and even Billy's only beloved little daughter is worried about this inconspicuous old man. In this extremely isolated dilemma and pressure, how will Billy choose ?
When he was young, Billy was also a player. He gave up the full scholarship of Stanford University and embarked on his favorite baseball career under the temptation of scouts' promising prospects and salary. However, year after year he made no achievements. He was most often forced to leave the court to become a team manager. The American baseball culture is huge, and the entire league has become a stage dominated by big teams and star players. A team often has to rely on strong funds to buy star players to win the championship, and teams with limited budgets can only serve as side dishes. Billy has seen enough of those scouts who use their proficient lobbying to fool enthusiastic young people and give them the dream of tomorrow. But how many real star players are there? Many players carry their ideals and the frustration of being drained of their bodies. Why is the value of a player the key to achieving personal value? Why does the value of a team depend on how much money it has? Why has the entire baseball culture become a battlefield for stars and money? These questions entangled in Billy's heart. Why does he love baseball?
With doubts, Bili simply walked to the black. He sold the superior star players in the team, recruited the abandoned old players, injured players, used mathematics to analyze baseball, and emphasized the integrity of the team. , Instead of the show field of individual stars, every player can fill the vacancy of this building block. You don’t need to be strong, and you don’t have to worry about degraded skills because of age. As long as you can get on the base, it’s useful to me. Finally, the Green Caps came to the fore, winning 20 games in a row, breaking the record set by the Foundation Team, which surprised the world. But Billy is not excited, but does this mean nothing? Billy said that on the one hand, he is looking forward to the championship. On the other hand, his enthusiasm for baseball has been obscured with the destruction of his early star dreams. He has stopped watching games since he became the team manager because he was afraid to face it. Failure, afraid of the atmosphere of the green field, he never communicated with the players, from the phone calls between him and his daughter also learned that this is the curse in his heart, he will only bring bad luck to the team on the field. But gradually Billy began to change. In the process of managing the team with a new management philosophy, he really felt hope. He began to communicate with the players, condemning and inspiring the players face to face, and more subtle, he also treated the players who were going out. Showed a little comfort. Billy finally entered the field for the first time when the team was far ahead. However, the curse seemed to really appear again. He watched the opponent clenching all the way until the tie, and Billy, who couldn't bear to bet, silently returned. In the locker room, the game turned around again. The Green Caps won a home run. He stayed alone in the gym when the game was full of excitement. It seemed that victory never belonged to him on the field. Why does he love baseball? As the assistant Fatty showed to Billy, Billy was a player who hit a home run in the video without knowing that he was still staggering. Yes, he did not become an outstanding player, nor did he lead the team into the league finals. Although he could not rule the roost on the court, Billy changed the rules of the game from a chess piece to a trailblazer playing behind the scenes. After a home run, how can you not love baseball? It turns out that his love for baseball has never been buried, but it has settled deeper, and Billy has found the answer.
The mathematical baseball method that Billy quoted retrieved the original sportsmanship of baseball. Every player can find his own value under such game rules, and it is not dominated by other factors such as money. The core of this spirit is love. A miracle is not winning but persisting. American baseball culture gives us a reflection. Does our country really have a sportsmanship? Is it really a system problem that the ball games of more than two of us are so bad? Or we don't love it at all.
Another spirit of the film is to break the rules. The role of Billy Bean allows Pete to fully display his charm, and Pete’s cynicism (the taste grows more and more as he grows older) matches the role of Billy. The rebellious spirit, unconventional and unconventional, mixed tenacity and anxiety, eventually shook the entire system. However, the movie has not reduced to this type of heroism in the past. It shows the complexity of human nature like "Social Network". Both Zach in "Social" and Billy in this film have obvious flaws. Zac’s betrayal of his friends is also Billy’s self-serving and indifferent to the players. Of course, these personalities have also made them. It can be seen that success has never been so pure, just like the music of these two films is always accompanied by dull ups and downs. And noise. This makes Billy's daughter "The Show" very refreshing and light-hearted.
In addition, Jonah Hill’s performance was unexpected. Who would have thought that this Judd Apatou gang's unscrupulous bitch could play the key character Peter, the little fat assistant, so steady and eagerly shy, Philip The low-key and restrained performance also demonstrated the actor's demeanor. This is the third film by the young director Nebenit Miller. The last time "Capote" shocked the world, this time it was also the same. With such a strong script at the bottom, such a film-like photography, with Peter sitting on the floor, and such a meaningful director, although I don’t understand baseball at all, the film’s meaning has infected me profoundly and loudly. How can I? I don't love this movie yet.
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