Phil Alden Robinson directs Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan and Ray Liotta in this baseball fantasy where a farmer hears an eerie voice in his crop and follows its instruction to build a baseball field.

I have never studied the exact definition of the literary term ‘magical realism’ but in my head it is this: A fantasy bolted down in the everyday. No elves or magical swords. But pollution free sunsets, the embrace of a true friendship and the feeling you’ve witnessed a parable, seen the hand of some god in the spinning of the yarn. Like beloved Stephen King adaptations The Shawshank Redemption or Stand By Me, this is a backwards looking comfort movie. Not only nostalgic but a tale of escape told through the lens of memory and lost innocence. All three films, all of disparate genres, share a warmth, a mystery and a narration. They work within the oral tradition of storytelling and the connective tradition of the first or second person narrative. I’ve never run along a railway bridge or played opera to a yard full of hardened cons or even been to watch a baseball game. But I understand the power of jumping the rails. Of seeing the way one’s life eventually plays as preset and the zen of taking steps to rebel against the natural flow of time’s gentle but constant moving river. The supernatural moments still give me chills, the comedy still makes me chuckle, the threads of freedom and happiness tie into my personal philosophies, the Dad stuff gets my throat clogged and makes my eyes (almost) dampen. The technical qualities, though unfussy, are flawless. “Is This Heaven? No, It’s Iowa”

10

Perfect Double Bill: Take Shelter (2011)

My wife and I do a podcast together called The Worst Movies We Own. It is available on Spotify or here https://letterboxd.com/bobbycarroll/list/the-worst-movies-we-own-podcast-ranking-and/