A strong win!

Win Win (2011)
Certified: 14
Duration: 106 minutes
Directed by: Thomas McCarthy
Starring: Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale, Jeffrey Tambor, Burt Young, Melanie Lynskey, Alex Shaffer, Margo Martindale.
KRS release

Paul Giamatti is one of the best character actors in films at the moment. With Win Win he confirms this once again. This is the sort of independent film that features perfectly normal folk with everyday aspirations, living normal lives but ending up in perfectly outrageous situations. The result is a film about second chances: about meriting a second chance, about real life giving us a second chance. Centralised around Paul Giamatti’s finely-tuned turnout, the film lives up to its title and presents the audience with a winning situation.

Paul Giamatti plays Mike Flaherty, a small-time lawyer working with the elderly in New Providence, New Jersey. Things are not going so well for him as his law practice is not really bringing in that much cash flow. This is a fact that he does his best not to reveal to his wife Jackie (Amy Ryan). He is also the coach of the high school wrestling team, and even here he is not winning at all. He starts getting panic attacks, especially during the jogging bouts that he has with his friend Terry (Bobby Cannavale). Mike’s situation is certainly getting to him.

When one of Mike’s clients, Leo Poplar (Burt Young) who is suffering from dementia, is in need of a guardian and has no one to turn to as his daughter Cindy (Melanie Lynskey) is nowhere to be found, Mike sees a golden opportunity. He volunteers for the job because it guarantees a $1,500 monthly pay cheque. Leo is supposed to stay at Mike’s but he places him in a care facility. Mike receives a surprise when Kyle Timmons (Alex Shaffer) arrives on the scene. He is Cindy’s son, escaped from home. He says she is addicted to drugs and her boyfriend is abusive, and he has come to stay with his grandpa.

Mike ends up taking Kyle in, and discovers that Kyle is actually quite good at wrestling and soon he is part of the team. This serves as the inspiration needed for the wrestling team to start winning, and Mike starts to believe there may be light at the end of the tunnel. But the complications are just starting, in what is a very unusual and brilliantly-told sports drama tale.

Tom McCarthy follows up on his excellent The Station Agent and The Visitor with a fine example of smart and clean direction. Win Win mixes emotional drama and sweet comedy well. The film is not about imparting the meaning of life, it’s not meant to be awe-inspiring but rather to highlight life and the people who live it. The film is populated mostly by flawed people who make mistakes and seem to have a knack for seeming real rather than Hollywood cutouts.

Centralised around Mr Giamatti, the film holds well and shows him in good form. This is a modern-day sort of parable crossed with wishful sitcom fantasy. He gives us hope that we all deserve a second chance. But it’s not all Paul Giamatti’s show. Amy Ryan is perfect as Mike’s wife, she is the ideal person that one aspires to be in life. Comedy and light tones are provided by Bobby Cannavale and Jeffrey Tambor. Mr Tambor is always dead serious while Mr Cannavale seems to be like a fun guy to be around. Alex Shaffer’s performance shows that this is one teen actor to keep an eye on. If he builds up on this debut performance then he is one face that we should be seeing more often.

While wrestling is not a strong point for me, the film goes beyond being about sport and becomes more about family. It’s beautiful to see how Tom McCarthy pushes and emphasises on the different expanded family themes that he had already elucidated on in other films. These are a bunch of unlikely people that connect with and find meaning in one another, and that is already a win-win situation.

The fact that you will leave the cinema with quite a light step is another win for this nifty indie disarming film.