As we settled into our seats in the theater, a montage of #DireStraits’ #MoneyforNothing started playing and images of #BeverlyHillsCop and #Ghostbusters. The sound seemed lower than what one would expect and my friend hailed the usherer to check if there was something wrong with the settings since this was a premiere show, the first in Dubai! We were told that the film is created with sound like that and then we realized that this is among many other things a tribute to the 1980s! The high points of this movie happen in dull gray, sepia like lighting and key dialogues are in the office toilets or hallways with very nondescript looking people walking around buried in work. Costume designer for #Air, #CharleseAntoinetteJones says that she looked through vintage issues of GQ and Esquire to style the lead characters!
This old school vibe and the sound track combined make this film a veritable treat as it tells you a classic tale of dreams, ambitions, guts and athletes getting their due while changing the course of history with regard to how sports endorsements are done. It is but a strange coincidence that the release of #Air this week coincides with the start of the sixteenth edition of the Indian Premier League in India, a mega brand that has transformed the lives of so many aspiring young cricketers around the world. Today, you can make a meaningful career out of playing IPL alone! And if you don't believe me, just take a hard look at Gujarat Titans’ Rahul Tewatia as he walks out with that swashbuckling buccaneering style !!
Director #BenAffleck’s #Air released in theaters worldwide on April 5th, 2023 and is a throwback to old world wholesome entertainment, a good story, well told. It is another matter that the wolf whistles came on at the mention of the iconic ‘Jordans’ and the first look of the custom designed black and red high tops with a white mid style that has got the fancy of sneakerheads, basketball fans and Jordan fans worldwide! #Air tells the story of how an upstart #Nike signed on the 21 year old college dropout #MichaelJordan and changed the fortunes of the brand and the dynamics of sports endorsements forever. What is ironic is that both the man (Jordan played by #DamianYoung) and the money remain out of focus all through the movie!
A brilliant #MattDamon plays Sonny Vaccaro, the pot bellied, pager carrying, divorced, unattached, workaholic talent scout at #Nike corporation. He is shown as a loser with a compulsive gambling habit, betting his money at the NBA games, buys his dinner at the local convenience store and eats alone at home while watching the basketball games on television. He is reluctant to follow the ‘norm’ for such brands and invest the endorsement monies across multiple players. Instead, he spots Jordan and knows he has a winner and wants to put his entire bet on the big J. If you notice, this ‘all or nothing philosophy’ is intelligently seeded in the way Vaccaro’s character has been built up!
Vaccaro’s accomplices on this journey are Howard White (#ChrisTucker), Nike’s NBA liaison and Rob Strasser (#JasonBateman) the marketing director. I must confess that after watching him on #Netflix’s Ozark, I am an absolute Bateman fan! There is also a loud mouth, foul talking, phone smashing motormouth agent, David Falk (#ChrisMessina) who detracts Vaccaro on his mission. Vaccaro decides to bypass Jordan’s agents, lawyers and management team and drive down to North Carolina to meet with the ace star’s parents. The interaction between Sonny and Deloris ( Jordan’s mother played by a feisty #ViolaDavis) is surely one of the high points of this light touch drama written by #AlexConvery. #Davis infuses a no-nonsense assertive go-getter attitude to a film that is devoid of much needed tension and transforms the narrative with minimal screen share! #Juliis Tennon plays Jordan’s father and is incidentally, Davis’ real life husband.
#BenAffleck plays Phil Knight, Nike’s co-founder and chief executive. He puts up his bare feet on the table and drives an absurd ‘grape colored’ porsche. He seems more concerned with the bald skateboarder in the parking lot scratching his car than the fortunes of the Company. The idea is to portray an utterly ridiculous character that contrasts with the well meaning effort that the others put into securing the deal. Talking about character portrayal, the other moment of tension in the film is when Rob Strasser delivers a monologue on how the job impacts his ability to sustain the relationship with his daughter, even as a stupefied Sonny looks on.
It is great to see #MattDamon and #BenAfflect reuniting after #GoodWillHunting to partner and create this funny, entertaining, gutsy, meaningful story that made Michael Jordan phenomenally rich for sure, but initiated a trend wherein athletes gained meaningfully from such partnerships. For the moment through, I am going to remember only two things when i step into my Jordan 13s and notice the iconic silhouette of Jordan flying with the ball - one is that a part of what i pay goes to the man himself and two, the dialogue between Sonny and Deloris. Sonny says “ A shoe is only a shoe” and Deloris completes it by saying “until my son steps into it” !!
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