Last night, I
attended what may have been the largest movie premiere in history, a showing at
Citi Field, of “Last Play at
Shea” (produced by Steve Cohen and Nigel Sinclair, in conjunction with
Billy Joel’s Maritime Pictures and Spitfire Films, directed by Paul
Crowder). As I wrote
after I saw the film at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, this is a wonderful
film. It brings together the stories of Billy Joel, the Beatles, ....New York...., Shea Stadium,
and the Mets, combining them into a perfectly-paced narrative with tremendous
emotional power. It is inspired myth-making. And unlike a lot of
myth-making, it is convincing. In the stories of Joel, McCartney, Shea,
the Mets, Pete Flynn, and the people of ....New
York...., the film-makers find a pattern. It’s not
as if all these things are connected. But they are alike. They
illustrate the narrative of ....New York....
that cannot be told by the Yankees or Wall Street. This is the narrative
of the downtrodden, the dumpy, and the unlikely. This is about the magic
of the unanticipated: the magic of a lounge singer in a dive becoming a
superstar, a ball finding its way through a first baseman’s legs, a dumpy
stadium becoming a circle of glory loved around the world. What makes the
film richer than most stories about the triumph of the downtrodden is that it
does not try to suggest that miracles often happen, and it doesn’t try to
suggest that occasional miracles are enough. The Mets still lose the last
game at Shea, Billy Joel has not had the easiest life, life-long marriages end,
disaster still strikes. But sometimes people can gather together in a big
crowd and see a concert by artists they love, or see a game played by a team
they love, and for a few moments life feels like a magic carpet ride shared
with tens of thousands of sudden friends. Life is what it is. But
music and games can make it into something more. Films about sports are
usually so boring. Films about music are usually only worth listening
to. This film feels as if it is about life. One of the people I saw
it with has no interest in baseball, limited interest in Joel, and no
connection to ....New York.....
Yet he “got” the film and was very moved by it. Anybody would be.
This film deserves to be opening soon at your local multi-plex, where it would
give the filmed video games and the formulaic comedies a run for their
money. ....
Read More at BillyJoel.com
