{"id":15567,"date":"2023-03-13T23:07:41","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T03:07:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=15567"},"modified":"2023-03-30T19:10:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T23:10:15","slug":"sxsw-film-festival-review-the-long-game-is-an-uplifting-underdog-sports-drama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=15567","title":{"rendered":"SXSW Film & TV Festival Review – \u2018The Long Game\u2019 is an Uplifting Underdog Sports Drama"},"content":{"rendered":"

Throughout history, there has been a prevailing sense that one group\u2019s ability to enjoy doing something will be inherently threatened by the inclusion of others. This has taken many forms over the ages, and in recent American history has involved exclusive clubs with membership requirements that ban people based on race, religion, and gender. Barriers may not even be set in stone or written, yet attempts to overcome them are still met with many obstacles. The Long Game <\/em><\/strong>tells one inspiring story of fighting against prejudices and blazing a trail for inclusion in the process.<\/p>\n

JB Pe\u00f1a (Jay Hernandez) works as the superintendent of schools in Del Rio, Texas in the 1950s. The veteran is determined to play golf at the esteemed San Felipe Country Club, where most Mexican-Americans work as caddies since membership is essentially closed to those who look like him. With the help of his war buddy Frank Mitchell (Dennis Quaid), Pe\u00f1a begins working with a group of students at San Felipe High School to train to become the school\u2019s first golf team and show the all-white clientele at the country club what they can do.<\/p>\n

\"The
Photo Credit Anita Gallon M.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Long Game <\/em><\/strong>is based on a true story of a slow road to integration told in Humberto G. Garcia\u2019s 2010 book Mustang Miracle<\/em>. It presents Pe\u00f1a as someone who others might say doesn\u2019t appear Hispanic or Latino, well-dressed and acting as if he should be accepted everywhere in society. Yet that\u2019s unfortunately not the truth, and the ease with which Mitchell is able to make things happen is certainly dispiriting since Pe\u00f1a tries considerably harder with very little luck. Yet the perseverance is just part of it, since the skill that his players exhibit thanks to their natural talent and rigorous training is what ultimately serves to distinguish them.<\/p>\n

There are a number of memorable establishing moments that work to ground this film in the era in which it\u2019s set and to build the stage for their barrier-breaking attempt. When Pe\u00f1a first arrives at a tournament with his team, an official expresses astonishment, saying that he assumed they were all American, to which Pe\u00f1a responds that indeed they are. When the team goes to celebrate an early victory at a diner, they are bluntly refused service and even threatened with a baseball bat when Mitchell tries to confront the owner. The odds are not in this team\u2019s favor, and this is most definitely an underdog story.<\/p>\n

\"The
Cheech Marin. Photo Credit Anita Gallon M.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since golf may not be the most intense and fast-paced sport, this film matches that well by showing the painstaking process of perfecting swings and ensuring that presentation is everything. Among the most challenging parts of winning competitions and even just getting to play in the first place is to put on a good show, and Mitchell purposely delivers unrelated good news to the team when they fail to finish towards the top of the competition so their energetic cheering comes off as excellent sportsmanship. When Pe\u00f1a and Mitchell bring their wives to play, Mitchell expressly states to JB\u2019s wife Lucy (Jaina Lee Ortiz) that she\u2019s too good, and losing on purpose will be the best option since humiliating their powerful competition will only make them less willing to think outside the box.<\/p>\n

Hernandez and Quaid lead a strong cast whose standouts are the players themselves. It\u2019s also fun to see Cheech Marin in a supporting role as Pollo, a longtime employee at the club who has been waiting for someone like Pe\u00f1a to come along and make use of all the abandoned equipment he has collected over the years. This film is an uplifting tribute to the legacies of the people it portrays, told with a tongue-in-cheek attitude about how unimaginative expectations can lead to the most startling and surprising things.<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out more of Abe Friedtanzer\u2019s articles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Long Game<\/em><\/strong> makes its world premiere in the Narrative Spotlight<\/a> section at SXSW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Throughout history, there has been a prevailing sense that one group\u2019s ability to enjoy doing something will be inherently threatened by the inclusion of others. This has taken many forms over the ages, and in recent American history has involved exclusive clubs with membership requirements that ban people based on race, religion, and gender. Barriers…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":15570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[13642,1579,14718,14719,14715,14716,14717,134,14655,12554],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSXSW Film & TV Festival Review - \u2018The Long Game\u2019 is an Uplifting Underdog Sports Drama | Cinema Daily US<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jay Hernandez and Dennis Quaid star in The Long Game, based on the true story of a boundary-breaking high school golf team.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=15567\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SXSW Film & TV Festival Review - \u2018The Long Game\u2019 is an Uplifting Underdog Sports Drama | Cinema Daily US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jay Hernandez and Dennis Quaid star in The Long Game, based on the true story of a boundary-breaking high school golf team.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=15567\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cinema Daily US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-14T03:07:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-30T23:10:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/The-Long-Game.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1412\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"795\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abe Friedtanzer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/movieswithabe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abe Friedtanzer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=15567\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=15567\",\"name\":\"SXSW Film & TV Festival Review - 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