Review of Il terzo tempo (2013) by Ben S — 07 Mar 2014

Recently released from juvie and under the care of his social worker Vincenzo (Stefano Cassetti), Samuel (Lorenzo Richelmy) knows that one more slip up and he'll be back inside. But he's instantly unable to avoid trouble and Vincenzo soon forces Samuel to try his hand at the region's religion, rugby. Once a great player, Vincenzo is now a failing coach perpetually in a drunken stupor, with the team he trains languishing at the foot of the table. As Samuel begrudgingly adopts the new sport, and Vincenzo's passion for the game is reawakened, will they turn the fortunes of the team, and their lives, around? In short, yes.

The Third Half (Il Terzo Tempo) is a great looking film, presented with gorgeous naturally-lit cinematography and is thus able to get away with far more than it might've done. I'm a huge sucker for a sports movie, but this is hugely signposted, uninspired stuff that could have been copied and pasted from any number of its contemporaries. An alcoholic coach with fading former glories, a fatherless bad boy struggling to reform, the forbidden allure of the coach's daughter and an underdog team who can't buy a win - you can fill in the blanks yourselves. Most films in the genre play out this way, but with the lack of any driving target - say a championship, or defeating a rival - it never really captures the intensity and passion it should.

Thanks largely to the rich cinematography and solid performances - the bearded, steely eyed Cassetti is particularly impressive - The Third Half still passes by pleasantly enough in a functional no-nonsense manner. The one aspect it does excel at, however, is the rugby scenes themselves. A pet peeve of mine is poorly handled phoney sports scenes - football being often laughably represented in cinema - so it's invigorating to see the matches captured in something close to the dynamism of live sport. Shot with a mix of wide angles and kinetic close-ups it digs out something properly cinematic, ramping up the tension with a rousing score and flashes of slow motion.

This is traditional, macho stuff awash with the over-sentimentality you sign up for with most sports films. It probably doesn't deserve to work, but in the climatic scenes, as everything, obviously, comes together for Samuel and Vincenzo, it's solidly moving in a cheesy way. Offering nothing new, it is still stylishly handled stuff that will please soft hearted idiots with a weakness for sporting underdogs, like myself.