Final Rating: 3.5/5
Eephus, directed by Carson Lund, follows the last game of amateur baseball being played on a local field before it is torn down and replaced by a middle school. An ensemble cast of characters, some of whom are recognizable archetypes to anyone who’s spent any time around baseball fans, each deal with this in their own way, mourning the loss as it fast approaches.
It becomes clear in the first few minutes that you’re in for a meandering stroll familiar to any baseball fan. There isn’t much to be found by way of story beyond what is implied, the marginalia, the kinds of side conversations always had during a baseball game. During the film, baseball is referred to as an “escape,” but that isn’t the case in my experience. Baseball can be an escape for some, but in Eephus, as in real life, baseball offers a chance to meditate on life. Baseball is so easily projected onto, any part can take on symbolic importance, stand in for almost anything, and so too can life start to resemble baseball.
In Eephus, the Eephus itself, a kind of trick pitch, is explained via monologue as a very slow breaking pitch which confuses the batter. Within the text itself, it is compared to the experience of watching, or indeed playing, a baseball game. From the perspective of the batter, the pitch, which is so slow at first, seems to come all at once. The batter either jumps the gun or swings far too late. The film itself does a fine job of embodying this, but the comparison itself becomes obvious by the time it comes up in the script. For a viewer who’s familiar with the rhythm of baseball, this feels redundant, almost patronizing. The film seems to both cater to baseball fans and sidestep them in a way that can come off as a bit clumsy, at times.
In fact, the whole film feels a bit amateurish, but it’s apt, diegetic almost. The monologue describing the Eephus, delivered by co-writer Nate Fisher himself, belabors the film’s point but comes from a character prone to condescension. The title cards, which break up the movie into distinct stages, are accompanied by quotes from various Hall of Famers, but they feel unintentionally awkward at times.
Local radio commercials play throughout; a few are pitch-perfect comedic bits which get quick punchlines in and keep things moving, but others miss the mark. Some performances feel completely authentic, and others feel a bit like community theater. Eephus is uneven, but as a film about recreational baseball, there is an uncanny harmony between its subject and its execution adding to its charm. As a film, which comes early in the careers of its writers, Michael Basta, Nate Fisher, and Carson Lund, the latter of whom directed as well, this bodes well for future films. Above all else, Eephus is promising.
It would be satisfying to say the film resembles the pitch (which of course resembles baseball which of course resembles life), however it doesn’t come quite that easy. Despite its respectable 98 minute runtime, Eephus can feel like a slog at times. That being said, moments of emotional vulnerability come more and more frequently as the film reaches its end. As things wind down, the romantic aura of baseball begins to take over. You start to feel it all slipping away, and nostalgia kicks in before it ends.
In Eephus, director Carson Lund aims to make a film with the same pacing and structure that you might expect from a baseball game, and he certainly succeeds. I have spent my life defending the sport of baseball from its oft-repeated criticisms. Friends tell me it’s too boring, too slow, the games are too long. In actuality, the average MLB game has never had a longer duration than the average NFL game, but I suppose baseball games just feel longer than they are. Fighting tooth and nail in favor of the entertainment value of my favorite sport has left me in a state of denial, but it’s time to come to terms: baseball is boring, and that’s part of why we love it.
As an entry into the baseball movie canon, Eephus brings fresh perspective from a new, more experimental cohort of filmmakers. This might be the type of movie which loses quite a few viewers after the first 30 minutes or so, but then again, baseball does the same thing. In fact, most criticisms of this movie can be applied to baseball as a sport, and isn’t that a bit uncouth? I mean, considering how they’re tearing down Soldier’s Field to replace it with that middle school…
Thank you to Music Box Films and Bright Iris Film Co for the screener.
