Olympic Dreams Review

 
PG13:  Some language and sexual referencesRuntime: 1 Hr and 23 MinutesProduction Companies: Olympic Channel ProductionsDistributor: IFC FilmsDirector: Jeremy Teicher Writers: Alexi Pappas, Jeremy Teicher, Nick KrollCast: Nick Kroll, Alexi Pappas, Gus Kenworthy, Morgan Schild, Jamie AndersonRelease Date: February 14, 2020In the highly exclusive Athlete Village at the Olympic Winter Games, Penelope (Alexi Pappas), a young cross-country skier, befriends Ezra (Nick Kroll), a volunteer dentist, after a disappointing finish in her competition. Penelope and Ezra share a special but limited time together.
On the actual location in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Village in South Korea in the middle of the two week competition, director Jeremy Teicher and athlete Alexi Pappas made an experimental narrative with Nick Kroll and it’s heartwarming as hell.
Traveling to compete in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the film focuses on a cross country skier named Penelope who is alone, overwhelmed and anxious about this entirely new environment. Right off the bat, audiences can resonate with Penelope as she’s alone in this Winter Olympics with no friends or family to support her. As a central character, I immediately saw so much of myself in Penelope. Traveling alone to another realm outside of your comfort zone to achieve your dreams is very anxiety-inducing, especially as a young millennial in your twenties, and it’s relatable for everyone. Funny enough, Olympic Dreams was the first movie I saw at my first ever SXSW. So, watching this character feel overwhelmed and exhibit this array of loneliness in an unfamiliar territory was so surreal. Pappas does a fantastic job expressing those relatable characteristics in her performance and emotionally captures that feeling of isolation that many people can attest to. With this being my first exposure to Pappas as an actress, she might as well be the most talented athlete who can also act as well. Aside from LeBron James, who is also a great performer, Pappas proves her passionate talent through her performance and writing.Said talent comes full force when Penelope befriends Ezra, a neurotic 37-year-old volunteer dentist who is in a bad place in his relationship, who tries his best to be friendly to everyone he meets. Soon this friendship blossoms into a romance as the majority of the movie is dedicated to the touristy adventures they embark on and it’s heartwarming to watch. On the surface, this character may sound similar to Coach Steve from Kroll’s hit Netflix series Big Mouth but the approach he takes is very thoughtful. For a while now, Nick Kroll has been working so hard to exhibit his range as an actor - aside from being a funny comedian - and Olympic Dreams is the perfect test track for him. Kroll delivers a strong performance proving he’s more than just a man of many voices. From the way he interacts with others, you can pick up on the fact that this character has some sort of mental illness and never for a moment does Kroll go too over-the-top. As RDJ once said in Tropic Thunder:
He perfectly portrays neuroticism in this dramatic performance that is caring and thoughtful enough to make you look past the age aspect within the budding romance. Some may be turned off by the 15-year age gap, but what makes it work is the neuroticism from both sides. Both characters are shy, awkward and timid by nature and seeing them connect in this setting makes for an entertaining and rather enjoyable time. The actors keep their personas grounded enough that the sentimental beats hits the right mark. The relationship Penelope and Ezra share is cute and the actors’ chemistry is magnificent. The relationship they share is similar to kids finding their first love, especially with how the boy is usually oblivious while the girl is too socially awkward. As the film progresses, Penelope opens up more and drops hints for Ezra while being more expressive.
Remember Song to Song? That pretentious Terrence Malik film from 2017 that I hate SO much? Well, Olympic Dreams follows the same experimental filmmaking format as Song to Song. Minus the pretentiousness, stiff acting and poorly-written characters, there are many similarities between the two films. Yet, what makes Olympic Dreams marginally better is the fact that there is a script. Even though you can tell that many of the scenes are ad libbed, the material is more human than whatever Malik exhibited with that piece of garbage. The setting and the event of the PyeongChang Olympics is another character to the film and Teicher does a great job making that love of the sport an addition to the film’s charm. While it is presented similarly to a home video and you notice its guerilla-style filmmaking, the central characters are complex and developed enough to help the story feel so real. Then, there are moments where Penelope attempts to step out of her comfort zone and converse with fellow athletes who express their love for their sport and some of the real conversations they engage in that adds to the realness.
For a movie that’s 1 hour and 23 minutes long, Olympic Dreams is very slow-paced. Similar to Song to Song, the film suffers from a bit of a pacing issue playing with one to many themes. Granted, Song to Song was a fucking endurance test, but some moments here are padded out too much. There are so many scenes of Ezra interacting with his patients that are charming because you can tell the people in their seats are so aware that they’re interacting with Nick Kroll, but I could’ve done with less sequences of that in accordance with time. It’s already a short movie and this was a very significant feat for the Olympics to include arts in their festival. Personally, I got uncomfortable at times because the characteristics of Penelope and Ezra spoke to me much too much, which isn’t a mark against the movie at all. It’s similar to watching The Edge of Seventeen where you relate so much to Hailee Steinfeld's character that the story gets too real. So, to have TWO neurotic characters is very off-putting if you’re as neurotic as me.
Providing a love letter to athleticism in its welcoming format, Olympic Dreams is an endearing drama that expresses how it’s not just all about winning the gold, but making lasting relationships along the way.  Rating: 3.5/5 | 73%