‘Eephus’: Cannes Review

Dir: Carson Lund. US/France. 2024. 98mins

Those who dislike baseball may complain that the game rolls along at a glacial pace and mostly consists of the players standing around, doing nothing. The pleasure of director and co-writer Carson Lund’s feature debut is that it understands how such criticisms miss the point entirely; what seems like nothing happening is, for those enamoured with the sport, its secret beauty. Eephus follows the final game played by two unexceptional recreational-adult-league teams before their beloved ballfield is torn down, and the result is a modest but poignant hangout film that resonates long after the last pitch. 

A modest but poignant hangout film that resonates long after the last pitch

Eephus premieres in Directors’ Fortnight, also the launching pad for another picture overseen by the Los Angeles artistic collective Omnes Films, Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point. The film, which features an all-male cast and crew, boasts no marquee names (although cinephiles may be amused to learn that legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman provides a brief vocal cameo as a radio newsman), but baseball fans might be drawn to this low-key charmer. That said, viewers should be advised that Lund eschews the sports drama cliches — indeed, winners and losers matter less than the precious time spent on the diamond between old friends. 

Set over one October Sunday afternoon and evening in the mid-1990s, the film tracks a baseball game played by local team Adler’s Paint, led by super-competitive pitcher Ed (Keith William Richards), and rivals Riverdogs, coached by the soft-spoken Graham (Stephen Radochia), whose business decision it was for their diamond to be bulldozed for a new construction. Players on both teams are none too happy with Graham, who just wants everyone to have one more fun time before they have to move on with their lives.

Eephus is an affectionate look at the middle-aged men who, despite being far removed from their childhood athletic glory (if they ever had it in the first place), still trudge out to the diamond to swing a bat and run the bases. The film has little in the way of thrilling on-the-field highlights as these suburban guys smoke and drink beer while complaining about their large guts and unfulfilling day jobs. The point of the game is to be together and trade insults — some more good-natured than others — and the screenplay roves from character to character, rarely letting anyone be the central focus for too long.

Even so, we  get vivid impressions of these players: Adler’s Paint first baseman Bobby (Brendan Burt) is a little insecure, trying to get the other guys to like him; while Riverdogs’ resident misanthrope Rich (Ray Hryb) sees all of life, including baseball, as combat. Eephus does a superb job lightly satirising the refusal of  these mediocre players to relinquish their athletic dreams, while at the same time understanding why certain men need to cling to the games of their youth. The performances are uniformly lived-in and weathered, embodying these likeable mediocrities who take the game seriously, even if no one else in their lives do. (Tellingly, there are almost no fans in the stands — including their families, who long since stopped bothering to show up.)

Lund, who also serves as editor, forgoes any notion of a rooting interest, filling both teams with ordinary men chatting between batters. The Altman-like swirl of random conversations are sometimes cosmic, sometimes pedestrian, the men move from discussing strategy to debating what sport is best to gamble on. Lund deftly captures the gentle rhythms of baseball, in which the lengthy inactivity can suddenly be interrupted by a loud crack of the bat and the ball rocketing across the diamond. But neither team represents the film’s heroes or villains, and consequently the game’s outcome is less meaningful than the sad inevitability that it will come to an end.

That is why, as this intentionally uneventful showdown reaches its final innings and nighttime takes hold, Eephus takes on a more mournful, almost ghostly tone. The sun is not just setting on this day but on these men, who will have to seek out some other solace in their discontented lives. Baseball is just a game, but Lund recognises why some need it so badly. On the diamond, these ageing men feel young again – if only for a few hours.