Friday Night Lights
Posted by anastasia on 05-13-2005
I don't often write about specific movies on Ypulse, but last night I watched "Friday Night Lights," and was really blown away. In many ways it's a quintessential high school football flick (and I'm not a big football fan), but it's also shot amazingly well (realistic/documentary style) and takes on more issues than most teen movies or movies in general.
You've got the Texas town so obsessed with high school football, the town's big wigs make not so veiled threats to the coach when he loses games (talk radio chimes in here, too). Then there are the racial issues, which are depicted subtly yet beautifully — I grew up in the south in the 80s where self-segregated black/white parties were the norm, and sports was one of the few places where people from different races truly bonded. There are the class issues — these guys are mostly dirt poor and college football scholarships are their only ticket out. And then there's the boys don't cry unless their under extreme pressure to win at football scenes (I've never seen so many teen boys cry — like really, truly express emotion in one movie!). And finally the "glory days" theme of this is your "championship" year where you get to be Gods — "When it's over it ain’t nothing but memories and babies." Definitely worth renting.
