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NEXT GOAL WINS TBC
Finding their feet…
SEE THIS IF YOU LIKED
BOY 2010 Waititi mines humour and heart from an offbeat group of Pacific Islanders in his sophomore directing effort.
NEXT GOAL WINS 2014 The original, spirited doc by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison, who serve as producers on Waititi’s film.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN 2021 You don’t need skill to be an inspiring sports-movie subject, as Mark Rylance’s golfing goofball proves.
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★★★★★ OUT 26 DECEMBER CINEMAS
Taika Waititi’s latest shares its title and premise with a 2014 British documentary about the American Samoa national football (as in soccer) team, notoriously one of the worst in the international game. As retold here, the team received a 31-0 thumping from Australia in 2001. Cut to a decade later: ahead of the 2011 qualifying matches for the 2014 World Cup, US-based coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) is parachuted in to see if he can bring some life to the struggling team.
Given that the historic 31-0 drubbing verges on slapstick, it’s fitting that this loose reconstruction of events goes broad with the humour. NGW likely won’t win over anyone averse to Waititi’s sense of humour: the film opens with the writer/director/actor setting the stage with a toothy, wiggy intro. But for fans of his low-key, irreverent style, there’s much to enjoy.
DIRECTOR Taika Waititi STARRING Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightley, Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House SCREENPLAY Taika Waititi, Iain Morris DISTRIBUTOR Disney/ Searchlight RUNNING TIME 103 mins
All the requisite sports-movie beats are hit, albeit with self-deprecating humour and knowing genre references. But within that familiar framework, the underdog story is very effectively delivered, thanks in large part to a charming bunch of supporting characters and a consistently funny script by Waititi and The Inbetweeners co-creator/writer Iain Morris.
Fassbender is largely the straight man here. A grumpy, heavy-drinking fish out of water, he’s given this unwelcome transfer after his career has hit the skids. But in due course he does his best to turn around the team, and, yes, his own life as well.
Many of the laughs come from the story’s culture-clash aspects. Waititi affectionately lampoons the South Pacific setting and its inhabitants; jabs are thrown at the everybody-knowseverybody island life and the team’s general lack of fitness, discipline and sporting prowess. The player with the most depth is Jaiyah (Kaimana), who is transgender, or more specifically fa’afafine, and her relationship with the new coach adds the most interesting dramatic dimension to the film.
The idyllic setting also helps the ease with which the film goes down. And while the path to the crucial climactic match is a familiar one, there are a few welcome spins on some sports-movie staples, not least a rousing speech that delivers an emotional jolt that’s not quite the one you’re expecting. So while Next Goal Wins’ formation might not be particularly innovative, more than enough shots hit the target.
THE VERDICT A familiar story, sure, but Taika Waititi’s funny and feel-good true-underdog story is extremely easy to warm to.