After Sterlin Harjo completed RESERVATION DOGS, I thought he would need more time to return to the reservation. Yet, here we are, in the latest feel-good story about life on the reservation. This time, it’s told with new characters and in the predictable sports-genre trappings with RESERVATION DOGS director Sydney Freeland.
Despite its genre tropes, REZ BALL still shines. That’s because Harjo and Freeland are character development experts. Each kid on the basketball team and the grown-ups guiding them feel like authentic people. Unlike the “big bad” team the underdog high school basketball Warriors team faces, everyone has positive and negative attributes, making for a lived-in viewing experience for the audience.
As a fan of FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS and the Phoenix Suns, I couldn’t help but notice the film owes a lot to each of them. Like FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, REZ BALL uses the sports radio to play through the entire reservation, allowing audiences to understand the character stakes and connect the universe. As for the Phoenix Suns, the REZ BALL coach insists on teaching the kids a new style of basketball, where they run and score so fast the other team won’t know what hit them. This “Seven Seconds or Less” coaching method was invented in 2004-05 by Mike D’Antoni when he coached my favorite basketball team, the Phoenix Suns. I’m not mad at the coach in REZ BALL for using it, but I would’ve liked them to at least mention Steve Nash or the Suns for the inspiration.
Basketball grievances aside, I enjoyed returning to the “rez.” On the surface, Freeland’s film is about sports in a small town. Underneath that is an exploration of how “funerals are the easy part. The hard part is after.”
It’s available on Netflix.
