At some point, everyone wants to be healthier. Everyone has tried to be a better version of themselves. Some of you will have thought of jogging; others will have done it and may still do. But what happens when you want to turn your five mile jog into the full 26.2? What happens when you see everyone else training for a marathon and reckon you could too? Well, according to the brilliantly funny Marathon, it could actually be the worst choice you ever make.
Writer-directors Keith Strausbaugh & Anthony Guidubaldi have crafted a stunning comedy that will have your lungs aching, thighs chafing, and bladder emptying far harder than any run around the block. It’s easily one of the best mockumentaries in the last ten years, and earns a place in that blinding pantheon next to What We Do in the Shadows and This is Spinal Tap. Marathon is what so many other classics have tried to be: There’s more underdogs here than Chariots of Fire, more insanity than Run Lola Run, and more pelvic close-ups than the mighty Spinal Tap.
Like all the best comedies, there’s a wealth of satire below the surface. As the characters explain their reasons for entering the marathon, they begin with the obvious like self-improvement, setting records, and competing with the best; and eventually arrive at more honest ones like wanting to escape your relatives, and proving your family wrong. Indeed the genius of Strausbaugh & Guidubaldi is the breadth of social commentary that it covers: product placement, class prejudices, toxic relationships, institutional racism, post-natal depression, existential loneliness, emotional abuse, acceptable masochism, and sport obsession. And all this from a film that had me in hysterics several times.
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The majority of the film focuses on the three months of training that our four hopefuls endure (and ‘endure’ is no understatement). As the reality of the marathon’s demands becomes apparent, their bodies buckle and their wills break under the colossal pain and pressure. Well written and beautifully acted, these four protagonists – who are flawed on a scale ranging from ‘unfortunate’ to ‘irredeemable’ – are immensely fascinating and incredibly identifiable. Tavius Cortez (my favourite!), Natalie Sullivan, Andrew Hansen and Anais Thomassian are exceptional in their comic timing and heart-string pulling. For a quartet of characters whose only reason for entering this desert marathon is to fill an overwhelming void in their desperate lives, you may end up cherishing them long after the film ends, even if they themselves don’t make it out of the desert alive.
Special mentions must also go to Jimmy Slonina as the marathon’s organiser for 15 years (and who’s being doing this for 15 years too long); Andrew Jacobsen as the coolest Race Day volunteer (I found all of your questions relevant, Andrew!); Roberto Raad as Banana Runner #2, who’s running the same race but on a different planet; and Kimia Behpoornia, whose elegant slacking proves that you don’t need to run a marathon in order to finish a winner.
So if you want to the see the smartest satirical comedy of the year, the most hilarious foot massage committed to film, and the funniest carb-loading joke ever conceived, let Marathon take you by the hand and drag you across the finish line, one way or the other…
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