[VIFF 2020] REVIEW: ‘Events Transpiring Before, During, and After a High School Basketball Game’ probably happened on a Tuesday

A basketball team at a Calgary high school features in Ted Stenson’s directorial debut.

One of the dangers when you’re selecting films to watch at festivals is that, most of the time, you’re doing it blind. You may recognize the cast and crew, but for the most part, the films being showcased are debuting to wide audiences for the first time. They always say, “never judge a book by its cover,” and while that is definitely true, sometimes a film has a title so eye-catching it tickles your curiosity. That’s what happened with Events Transpiring Before, During, and After a High School Basketball Game, a title that conveys a reflective journey from a relatively dull event.  

Directed by Ted Stenson in his directorial debut, ETBDAHSBG takes place in 1999 in Calgary. The plot is exactly as the title suggests – the Middleview High School boys’ basketball team is set to take on a team that hasn’t lost in three years, and begins with a janitor lowering the basketball hoops and ends with him retracting them. There’s a bunch of overlapping stories: overzealous assistant coach Brent (a hilarious Andrew Phung) begs Coach Davidson (Paul Cowling) to let him run Phil Jackson’s triangle offense even though the players are more interested in discussing The Matrix, referees Bill (Raemonn Joshee) and Ken (Jay Morberg) start on friendly terms but Bill ends up hating Ken because Ken can’t focus on the game, and the drama kids led by Danica (Ivy Miller) hatch a “fuck the patriarchy” campaign after their version of “King Lear” is cancelled because it’s deemed to be too controversial and provocative.

This is all good and there’s some genuinely funny moments that’s part Napoleon Dynamite and part The Breakfast Club, but there’s a lack of an overarching arc to tie it altogether. I guess ETBDAHSBG’s supposed to be a slice of life and represent an awkward yet normal day of high school, but perhaps that’s why it’s not very engaging. It feels like a bunch of forgettable SNL skits cobbled together, and there are times where it just drags. I can only take so much of dorky high school kids trying to explain the philosophical merits of The Matrix; worse, I don’t even get a good punchline. I’m left even more bewildered when one of the players claims Jack is Francis Ford Coppola’s best film – is it supposed to be a joke or a commentary on an adolescent need to be controversial for effect?

The actors give life to an otherwise pedestrian material where much of the intrigue is supplied only by its title. None of the characters really change, though I do wish we got to spend more time with some of them. The film just needed a little depth because a day in ETBDAHSBG – let’s call it Tuesday, because that’s easily the worst day of the week – kind of felt like any other day.

Events Transpiring Before, During, and After a High School Basketball Game gets two stars out of four.