Florida Film Festival 2014 review: ‘Strike: The Greatest Bowling Story Ever Told’

The great thing about documentary short films? You can make one about just about any subject and for even just a few minutes, the most mundane person or subject can be the most interesting thing in the world. For example, for thirteen minutes, I was enthralled by the journey of one man as he goes after one of the hardest things to accomplish in any organized sport – bowling three perfect games in a row.

In “Strike: The Greatest Bowling Story Ever Told,” the situation is set up beautifully and with great economy, because this is a short film after all, and the stakes are quickly laid out, the setting is realized, the characters put into place, and we get to see one man stumble upon a rare feat, a chance of a lifetime, an achievement in both bowling and in sport in general so monumental that it had the chance to change his life. That is some intense shit. And this roller coaster story, which pretty much has it all in terms of emotions, is a mere 13 minutes. And that’s a thing of beauty. Nothing beats a good short film, documentary or otherwise.

And make no mistake, this is a good one, funny, oddly compelling and in the end a little touching, and while it is specifically about this one guy bowling three games, it really gets a little deeper than that, especially when he admits that he stopped bowling for over a decade when he got married, despite loving the sport, and decided only recently to get back into the thing he loved so much, with all of those years wasted, not spent bowling, doing other stuff that didn’t make him as happy, and that’s sad. So now he’s bowling again? That’s a good thing. But is he married anymore? They didn’t really clarify that. His friends and acquaintances characterize him as a person with no wife or girlfriend and who only lives to bowl these days, so maybe that marriage fell apart, which allowed him to get back to the bowling.

Though would it not be a little ironic if his marriage fell apart due to his lack of bowling, which made him sadder, which made the whole relationship sadder? Why didn’t they go bowling together? It could have made them STRONGER. Or even, he could have still bowled, so he could have kept up what he loved, got away from the spouse every now and then cause we all know distance makes the heart grow fonder, and maybe the marriage would have been healthier. What I am trying to say is, bowling saves marriages. There, I said it.

Anyway, fun little movie, I liked it.