Moneyball is the second feature from director Bennett Miller who is responsible for the excellent Capote (2005). With Capote, Miller displayed a fantastic ability to evolve his characters through settings. In Capote it was the cramped, artistic corridors of bohemian New York juxtaposed with the wide-open, bleak landscape of middle America. Miller is equally successful with Moneyball, although the landscape has changed considerably and been replaced by the cold, bright sterile walls of a baseball stadium.
Moneyball tells the story of how Oakland A's general manager, Billy Beane, along with an economics graduate in his first job, attempted to even the scales of financial inequality in baseball by turning the scouting system into a statistical process. Unlike other sports films, like Raging Bull (1980) and Ali (2001), Moneyball isn’t about a sports personality, but about sport and this makes it feel fresh as well as fascinating. Even if an audience did not like baseball, the story is relevant across many sports and the excitement generated transcends the sport.
The acting is fantastic and in middle age Brad Pitt is proving one of America’s finest actors. As Billy Beane he is fully rounded and plays the general manager with the right amount of arrogance, anxiety and pathos. Miller’s direction ensures we understand Beane as the man we see through integrating scenes of his youth. Not too mention, Miller has a great eye for how to make a shot stylish.
Considering the subject matter, you would not think that Moneyball would be such an engrossing film, but it is one of the most watchable films of the year.
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