Rez Ball

Review: This 2024 film debuted on Netflix just last week & follows a team of Native American high school basketball players who deal with losing their star player. They face adversity as they learn to play without him & to adapt to a new style of play (called rez ball). I really enjoyed watching it and seeing how the young men embrace their Navajo culture. As we see them embrace who they are we see it reflect in both their team chemistry & play. Kauchani Bratt did a great job in his debut role & was an effective lead for the ensemble. The film dealt with serious real life topics very well. It gave me major ‘Friday Night Lights’ vibes.

High: The basketball scenes were so good. Funny enough, the main thing many sports movies struggle with is the sports scenes themselves. The actors don’t usually play effective athletes, so unless real athletes are brought in, the seems are just silly. However, this movie really felt like I was watching a good high school basketball team. Whether showed at the regular pace or in slow motion, the basketball scenes were so realistic. Props to the actors for that, those fellas must really be hoopers.

Low: At the end of the day, the film does use some tired tropes of both the sports & teen genres. While I don’t necessarily consider this a bad thing, it’s just an observation and is going to have to be my low. That combined with mostly unexperienced actors (who did do a great job) the film felt a touch cheesy at times, as most sports movies do.

Rating: 7.5/10