Review: Eephus – “A portrait of a small town, a slice of Americana.”

Players from Adler’s Pain in EEPHUS. Jeff Saint Dic, David Torres Jr., Theodore Bouloukos, Ethan Ward, John R. Smith Jr., and Brendan “Crash” Burt. Courtesy of Music Box Films.

I grew up watching baseball.  Living in Toronto, the Blue Jays were a fairly young team when I entered the world, but I can remember the excitement of going to see them at their new stadium, the Sky Dome (what locals still call it today despite it being re-named the Rogers Centre).  I can remember their 1992 World Series win and when they repeated in 1993.  I can also remember playing when I was a kid, the urge to pick grass in the outfield when things were slow, the distraction of people nearby.  This also led me to learn an important lesson about paying attention in the presence of a moving baseball.  I was quite the athlete, can you tell?  But I digress.  The point is, I loved, and still love, baseball.

There’s something about the sport that brings people together, whether it’s the entire city in a playoff run or a group of neighbourhood kids in a driveway.  It inspires a sense of community, and that’s what director and co-writer Carson Lund captures so well in his feature debut Eephus.  

Eephus wasn’t a baseball term I was familiar with, but an eephus pitch is a very slow, high-arching pitch that is meant to catch the hitter off guard.  When done right, it should almost hang in the air.  And so, Eephus, the film is aptly named.  It’s slow-moving, and for anyone anticipating a movie about baseball per se, it will also surprise you.  For Eephus is less about the game itself, and more about the experience of the friendships and relationships it builds.  

The film takes place during perhaps the longest game of recreational league baseball ever played.  In a New England town, mid-October, the morning eventually gives way to night, as the Riverdogs take on Adler’s Paint on Soldier’s Field.  It’s the last game that will ever take place on the decades-old ball field as they make way for a new middle school.  Most of the players are unsure about their future playing, as trudging two towns over to the next closest ball field is too far, and some are just reaching the end of their non-professional baseball career.  

So it’s clear that this eclectic mix of characters is holding on to the last innings of baseball in which they might participate.  As they become fatigued, and light the field with their pick-up trucks, they are clinging to more than just the field they play on.  They are keeping alive, for as long as they can, that sense of community, that belonging that might now elude them.  

You can feel the world just outside the fence.  Lund keeps the ambient sounds of the town audible- trains, planes, church bells, birds.  As people from the town pass by, they stop to watch.  A player’s kid asks, “Why do they care so much? Don’t they have more important things going on?”  And we know they do.  But that’s the point.  Whatever they have going on outside of that field, they get a break from that every time they play.  Now teammates they’ve known for years, might just become acquaintances as they pass each other down the road.  

Clearly inspired by Robert Altman, Lund approaches his film as an experience rather than a clear narrative.  He assembles a large cast that embodies that small town feel and will have you thinking, “that guy reminds me of…” Baseball fans might recognize the presence of Bill “Spaceman” Lee amongst the many faces of Soldier’s Field, a former pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos.  Joe Castiglione, who was an announcer for the Red Sox until retiring from the broadcast booth in 2024, has a small cameo.  So there are some sporting easter eggs to be had.

But overall, Eephus is made of small snippets of conversations, such that you might have standing on first base or sitting in the dugout spitting sunflower seeds.  It’s about the type of camaraderie experienced on a team, the way men talk to one another, the competitive nature that works its way in, even when the league is on its way out.  

Just as Eephus starts to hang on a little too long, hover a bit too far in its trip towards home, it’s over.  A portrait of a small town, a slice of Americana, Eephus doesn’t always have a distinct direction, with a lot of characters you don’t really get a chance to know.  Though the character of this small town is clear from its triangular sewer covers, to its radio station and its pizza truck.  You can feel like you were there, an observer to a piece of this town’s history, to something that is about to slip through the cracks.  Baseball just brings it all together.  

Eephus is now available to own on DVD and Blu-Ray, as well as to rent on digital platforms.  It is also available to stream on Mubi.