As someone who has long admired Marshawn Lynch, even as (or maybe even because) he soundly destroyed my team in the 2012-13 playoffs, this film was of great interest to me. I was at first taken aback by how unusual the style of this documentary was, and then became thoroughly engrossed within a couple of minutes. The anarchic style perfectly complements the anarchic NFL legend who is its subject.
The storytelling is not typical of the NFL player-documentary trope that requires a narrator and polished interviews and a soaring "heroic" score - nor should it be for someone like Marshawn, a man who famously eschewed interviews, and with good reason. (If I elaborated further, that might be a spoiler.)
Instead, this skillfully edited piece creates its narrative by knitting together clips that begin to make more sense as the film goes on. It's like an impressionist portrait that not only captures its subject, but also his environment - how he was influenced, how he in turn influenced others, the state of the media and the performative expectations when it comes to race, and the state of society as a whole. Much like that painting, you have to step back and look at this film as a whole, and you will learn something valuable from it if you're willing to.
Sit with this documentary for an hour, and let yourself be uncomfortable at times. If you can't do that, then put on something more palatable and mainstream.
But, if you really want to know Marshawn Lynch as a human being, and discover how influential and valuable he has been to the culture of the NFL - and why - then take this deep dive. If you really appreciate him as a person, or even just appreciate groundbreaking filmmaking, you are the audience for this.
