Curl Power

My wife and I both curl so we were excited to watch this film. I started curling at around the same age as the the young women in this film and played on a competitive junior men's team. We both felt this film lacked much substance and was downright boring much of the time. There was precious little on ice curling action to be had. The film really needed to go deeper into the sacrifice and commitment needed to excel in sport starting from the junior level. The film was devoid of showing a typical 24 hour or weekly schedule kept by the young players during curling season that would require the juggling of school work, curling practice, home chores, social time, sleep, other training time, meals and possible part-time employment. It was never mentioned how much on ice time, games, practice and bonspiels they had during the season.

This is not your average coming-of-age story, and it's not your regular sports film. It's an ode to teenage hood, a poetic but raw story of friendship, ambition, and teamwork. It takes an intimate look at the inner workings of young women in sport: of love, and boys, but also of existential thoughts and experiences of existing in our world, in their corner of the world - the parts of teenage life usually kept in diaries. It's magical and dreamlike at times, not in the way of washing over ideas or moulding them to create an interesting story. It's obvious that the director and the subject have a strong sense of trust. The art of the shots serve to underscore the honest and genuine emotional experiences of these young women.