Events Transpiring Before, During, and After a High School Basketball Game (2020)

EVENTS TRANSPIRING BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER A HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL GAME (2020)

Dir: Ted Stenson

What we believe will be a slice-of-life documentary style film about a basketball game, quickly becomes something radically different. Middleview High School is gearing up for a game against an undefeated team, but this isn't our focus as the title leads us to think. Instead, we are privy to several predicaments that cross paths with one another.

Set in 1999, the glue that holds the film together is discussions of The Matrix (1999). While a referee tries to find his wife's dog that he's lost, an assistant coach tries to shake things up with a complicated play, theater students try to decide on a protest after being canceled by the school, and the players debate themes of existentialism that may or may not be in The Matrix. Each set of dilemmas play out in dialogue. We don't even get to see the basketball game. And this is what sets the film apart from others. The comedy that comes out of these conversations is gold.

While watching Events Transpiring... I was hit with a wave of nostalgia. Not for High School life, as I was a Junior when The Matrix came out, or for basketball or theater. I was nostalgic for Richard Linklater. The film gives off that same dopamine rush of Dazed and Confused, Slacker, Waking Life, and to some extent Before Sunrise. The comedic dialogue in these films doesn't come from telling jokes or trying to be funny, but from conversations between people attempting to figure our their situation and how they connect with the world. As a debut feature film, Ted Stenson knocks this one out of the park, er, dribbles it down the court, makes a three-pointer. Shoots and scores! You know, sports!