One More Week

Samuel Wayne Scott · 2023 · 71 minutes
November 12 · Regal Riviera · 3:45 p.m.

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The seniors of the West High football team are on pace to be the winningest in program history despite never having made it past the semi-finals of the playoffs. One More Week is the journey of their final attempt to win a state championship as they come to terms with the end of high school.

Between ESPN, the many streaming services, and YouTube, we’re enjoying a golden age of sports documentaries. What distinguishes One More Week from most of its rivals might at first seem a limitation. Without access to endless footage from dozens of points of view, director Samuel Wayne Scott and his small crew of handheld camera operators instead cover the action from the ground level. Whether at practice, in the locker room, or on the field, viewers are always part of the action.

Scott intentionally limits his point of view in other ways as well. Aside from a few shots of fans lining Sutherland Avenue as the team bus rolls out of town, he isn’t especially interested in the impact of West’s success on the local community. There are no cliched essayistic flourishes about the deeper significance of football in SEC country. Rather, Scott wisely focuses on four charismatic leaders of the team and on their relationships with each other and with their coach. Clear eyes, full heart, can’t lose.