The final game at a local baseball stadium that has been scheduled for demolition. However, what is shown is not the heated battle between amateur baseball teams, but casual conversations on the field and on the benches, and the relaxed scenery outside the stadium.
I've never seen a baseball movie like this.
"That was the goal, really, to show baseball in a whole new light," manager Carson Lund said.
"Baseball is more than just a sport; I believe it has social and cultural significance. I play baseball, and meeting my teammates at the stadium was a way for me to release stress, and the stadium gave me the opportunity to interact with all kinds of people, including passersby. There's a poetic richness to the slow pace of the game, and there are quiet moments at the stadium where you can socialize with others and pay attention to the scenery. So, unlike other baseball films that tell a story with baseball as a backdrop, I wanted to portray baseball itself. But I feel like these values that baseball provides have been overlooked in recent years."
Yes, what makes this work so great is that by depicting baseball in its truest form, it raises issues about modern society, which places an emphasis on speed and efficiency and forces people to live hectic daily lives.
"The speed of our lives is getting faster and faster, and through the internet we can exist in any space at the same time. We are always distracted by something. In contrast to this, baseball can only be played in a specific place, with the people who are there. I think it is a kind of meditation. However, this luxury of time and space is now being lost. For example, the pitch clock is an existential crisis for baseball. I want this film to make people think anew about how we are using our time and what we value now."
However, no matter how original and high-quality a work may be, the current situation for independent film production is difficult worldwide. For this reason, Rand and his colleagues founded the Los Angeles-based film production collective Omnes Films and submitted two works, including this one, to the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
"Our project may not be seen as commercially viable from the perspective of major Hollywood producers, but I believe it speaks strongly to the sense of alienation felt by young people in modern society, and I believe it will definitely be commercially viable. That's why we want to continue moving forward in our own way."
