Bittersweet hangout movie is a goodbye to yesteryear, now on home video from Music Box Films
With new construction planned to demolish a longstanding smalltown baseball park, two local rec teams head into the final game of the season – and maybe their final game ever – facing an uncertain future.
Eephus, director Carson Lund’s steady-handed debut, is quite a marvelous little gem of a movie, and it may take awhile to see where it’s headed, but once it gets there the journey getting there has been kind of a beautiful one.
The film doesn’t specifically guide the narrative in terms of a team to root for, or a main protagonist to follow: it just is what it is; Today the Riverdogs square off against Adler’s Paint.
The wandering camera floats through various conversations and dialogues – most of which aren’t especially important – to spend time with every team member, their umpire and assorted persons hanging around watching the game. Franny, a retiree who has a long history with the park and serves as the scorekeeper, turns out to be the most compelling character and arguably the only one with an actual arc – he’s been devoting years to the happenings of this place, and now that’s about to go away.
And out of this shapeless narrative, something interesting comes into focus: it’s a long goodbye.
What could’ve been a very short afternoon of baseball (one team nearly forfeiting due to a player’s late arrival) turns into a battle of wills and extra innings as two teams continue into the night, unable or unwilling to let the old ballpark’s final record be one of indecision.
The film’s not particularly sentimental on the surface, but hints at a deeper nostalgia, peppering its ambling screenplay with a dry wit and keen observations. Like 12 Angry Men, it works with a large centralized cast of characters, and you probably won’t remember any of their names, but they have captivating faces, and you’ll have an idea what most of them are about through their various quirks, actions, and arguments.
The title “eephus” refers to an unusual and uncommon pitch. With a high arc and a slow speed, it’s a notoriously difficult pitch to hit. And when one’s thrown perfectly, the characters in this film tell us, it’s like time stands still.
The eephus serves as metaphor for the film’s unusual narrative: it’s not the usual “fastball” of a crowd-pleasing sports movie, but rather an impeccably-launched slow approach that bends the rules of time and space and takes the viewer by surprise, revealing something strange and beautiful – for those who can comprehend what they’re seeing.
The Package:
Eephus has arrived on home video in a great Blu-ray edition full of extras. Physically, the disc is packaged in a deluxe Arrow Video-style clear transparent (not blue) case. A 4-page insert includes an appreciation by Caden Mark Gardner, originally published in MoMA’s Reverse Shot publication.
Gardner’s essay explains some of the background behind the eephus and its most famous practitioner, Bill “Spaceman” Lee, who appears in the film almost as a mysterious apparation, a wanderer who joins late in the game to deliver the title pitch that serves as the film’s title. This knowledge isn’t necessary to understand or enjoy the film, but the context does enhance the experience.
Special Features and Extras
In these days of waning bonus feature, this is a welcome exception. Eephus on disc is packed with extras, and notably, navigating around the bonus feature menu hosts several Easter eggs in the form of brief audio dialogues and radio bits.
- Filmmaker Commentary – with director Carson Lund, co-writer Michael Basta, and DP Greg Tango
- Cast Commentary with several actors
- Behind the Scenes Camcorder footage (33:53) – a half hour’s worth of on-set footage with no narration or interviews – I didn’t find this particularly interesting
- Extra Innings Deleted Scenes (35:55) – maybe what’s most notable about the deleted scenes is the volume of it – 36 minutes’ worth. Due to the film’s meandering narrative intentional pacing, the editing was probably a huge challenge – in a relatively short film designed to feel longer than it is, this is what didn’t make the cut.
- Big Whiffs Blooper Reel (10:40)
- Pickup Baseball Game at East River Park, NYC (3:12)
- Exclusive Interview with Bill “Spaceman” Lee (19:09) – a sitdown with the colorful retired pitcher, author, and leftist political figure, now in his late 70s, who cameos in the film and serves as its inspiration. This is a fun listen with an interesting guy.
- Director Q&A from Jacob Burns Film Center (28:17) – a half-hour Q&A session with the director following a screening of the movie. It’s worth noting that live Q&A recordings often have terrible audio or video; that’s not the case here.
- In Conversation with Carson Lund at the Harvard Film Archive (59:28) – an hourlong interview with the director
- 2 Trailers (both 1:03) and “What’s the Eephus?” spot (0:33)
- Storyboards and Image Galleries
A/V Out.
Get it at Amazon: Eephus Blu-ray | Watch digitally
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