CERTIFICATE DIRECTORGavinO’ConnorSTARRINGBenAffleck
AlMadrigalJohnAylwardJaninaGavankarMelvinGreggMichaela
WatkinsSCREENPLAYBradIngelsbyDISTRIBUTORWarnerBros
RUNNINGTIME minsWhen we join him, Affleck’s Jack
Cunningham is a construction worker
near the San Pedro docks in the outer
reaches of Los Angeles. Almost
immediately, it’s clear he struggles
with drink. As soon as he gets in his
truck to leave work, he cracks open a
beer can, pouring it into a plastic cup to
avoid detection. When he’s showering,
there’s an open beer right next to him.
At a Thanksgiving dinner, tensions
suggest his family are quietly worried.
Now divorced from wife Angela
(Janina Gavankar), who finally plucks
up the courage to tell him that she’s
moving on, Jack is a former high-school
basketball star who dropped out rather
than take his college scholarship: just
one of the traumas he’s been carrying
around that has led him to drink. But
then into the frame steps Father
Devine (John Aylward), from his alma
mater Bishop Hayes High School. With
the current coach struck down by a
heart attack, Devine is looking for
someone to lead the team, an offer that
could give Jack a shot at redemption.
At first he dismisses the idea, as
illustrated by a fine montage in which
Jack drinks his way through a case ofbooze in his fridge, swapping beers
into the freezer tray and drunkenly
practising how he’s going to reject
Devine’s offer over the phone the next
day. Yet when he sobers up, Jack goes
from couch to Coach, working with an
amiable assistant (Al Madrigal) to
knock the team into shape (naturally,
it isn’t doing very well).COACH TRIP
Here, O’Connor veers more towards
predictable-but-enjoyable sports
drama, as the lackadaisical players
start to tap their potential. Among
the threads that develops is Coach
Cunningham’s tussle with arrogantstar player Marcus (Melvin Gregg). But
always lurking in the background is
the sense that he hasn’t yet overcome
his addiction to drink – he’s just
continuing to hide it from those
around him.
Returning to the sports-movie
genre after 2004’s Miracle (hockey)
and 2011’s Warrior (mixed martial
arts), O’Connor shoots the balling
scenes vividly, capturing the
razzmatazz of American school sports
with real clarity. Even if basketball
isn’t your game, it’s ridiculously easy
to get caught up in the excitement,
with the clock counting down and
Affleck’s bearded grouch screaming
profanities from the sidelines (he may
not be Robin Williams in Dead Poet’s
Society, but he really does inspire).
Compared to recent hard-hitting
studies of addiction and recovery like,‘IT’SRIDICULOUSLYEASYTOGET
CAUGHTUPINTHEEXCITEMENT’
Nowrememberteamwashthose
handsateverypossibleopportunityT
he last time director Gavin O’Connor teamed
up with Ben Affleck, they gave us mediocre
thriller The Accountant. This time, their aim is
for something more profound. Finding The Way
Back takes the sports movie and stirs into it a story of
alcoholism, addiction and recovery. Affleck, who has his
own experiences with rehab, offers up one of the most
agonised performances of his career.SEE THIS
IF YOU
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WAY BACK
Affleck gets back in the game...
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