Eephus, the last lap: nonchalant, original, surprising [critique]

Two amateur baseball teams meet for one last match… An ordinary autumn day in America, filmed like a moment of eternity.

Eephusto begin with, what is this title? Baseball specialists will explain to you that it is an extremely slow type of pitch, practiced by very few players, whose effectiveness is primarily due to the surprise effect it causes in the opponent. Or a title giving a clue to the style of the film itself: nonchalant, original, surprising. First feature film by Carson Lund (director of photography and star of the indie collective Omnes Films), Eephus chronicles the match of two amateur baseball teams, who meet for the very last time, the field of their small New England town soon to be replaced by a school. These average Americans, no more friends than that, but unfailingly linked by the habit of playing together for years, pace around their autumn-colored stadium, down beers, room together, and their day is made up of long periods of waiting and sudden accelerations (that's what baseball wants) end up drawing a languid virile epic, a bit like lo-fi, minimalist Howard Hawks. Night will soon fall, no one wants it to end, each of the micro-events meticulously described here will soon be nothing more than a distant memory. Doesn't seem like anything? Franny, the spectator-mascot who counts the points and has never missed a match in his life, knows however that what is at stake here is immense. Under his air of not touching it and his deadpan humor, Eephus brilliantly tells how certain pieces of collective history disappear, without fanfare.

By Carson Lund. With Keith William Richards, Cliff Blake, Ray Hryb… Duration 1h38. Released January 1, 2025.