Personal Best

Personal Best is a good example of a film aging in material and substance, but not in imagery or tone. It is quite easy and obvious to explain that some of the materials used in early Sci-Fi films like Them!, where giant ants attack look corny because the images of the giant ants don't work well with the background. It is also easy to explain how things that were funny due to the political context of the day don't read as well years later. Those are examples of films that have aged badly, but Personal Best exhibits a third type of aging that is concentrated upon substance. For it is what Personal Best decides is import to accentuate that does not read well. It's a film about two world-class athletes who are preparing for the tryouts for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. It goes without saying in the film that this event is not taking place because of the United States boycott, but that isn't clear to a viewer in 2011. However, the film goes on to develop a relationship between three characters: a coach (Scott Glenn) and his two promising women's team pentathletes: a shy and timid Mariel Hemingway as Chris and a domineering and confident real-life athlete Patrice Donnelly as Tory. Chris and Tory develop a lesbian relationship, and the camera watches the relationship stoically, without having anything to say about what is kinky, sexy, erotic. There are long sequences of nudity that have no life to them, which actually adds to the worth of the film as it shows an observatory camera on interesting lives. The strength of the film lies within the manifestation of complex characters in complex lives with complex choices by damn good actors. It's constantly interesting, and also features wonderful sequences of slowed running, jumping, throwing, etc. Visually, its pretty great, and even in the storyline it has sequences of brilliance. However, in tonality, it is slight and inept (it has aged badly), for scenes feel forced or away from the action. Finally, a portion of the lesbian relationship makes, frankly, no sense. I would not spoil the entrance of another important character later in the film, but it drastically changes how we see both characters. This is, however, a worthwhile film.
Personal Best: ★★★