An effectively conventional documentary that would probably work better as a 90-minute pilot for an ongoing docuseries than as a standalone film, Jess Jacklin’s Quad Gods does one unconventional thing extremely well.
Premiering on HBO after a Tribeca premiere, Quad Gods blends two genres that each tend to favor a single narrative path. Sports films progress toward unity and triumph — the solitary athlete realizes he needs coaching/love/whatever, the mismatched teammates come together, etc. Disability stories progress toward an accepted version of recovery — primarily an ableist version of “normal.”
Quad Gods is a disability story and a sports story, but it pushes back, and pushes back hard, against the traditional arcs of its respective genres. It’s a sports film without a championship game and a film about disabilities that rejects a one-size-fits-all restorative journey. It’s an anti-arc that occasionally makes Quad Gods a little unsatisfying in...
Premiering on HBO after a Tribeca premiere, Quad Gods blends two genres that each tend to favor a single narrative path. Sports films progress toward unity and triumph — the solitary athlete realizes he needs coaching/love/whatever, the mismatched teammates come together, etc. Disability stories progress toward an accepted version of recovery — primarily an ableist version of “normal.”
Quad Gods is a disability story and a sports story, but it pushes back, and pushes back hard, against the traditional arcs of its respective genres. It’s a sports film without a championship game and a film about disabilities that rejects a one-size-fits-all restorative journey. It’s an anti-arc that occasionally makes Quad Gods a little unsatisfying in...
- 6/8/2024
- by Daniel Fienberg
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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