Tribeca - The Zen of Bobby V
Bobby Valentine has to be one of my favorite New York sports figures. The moment that always stands out is his sneaking back into the dugout, wearing a fake mustache, after being ejected from a game. The combination of his love of baseball and his apparently lunacy made him an always entertaining character and it was personally sad to see him leave MLB and go back to Japan to manage. So I was greatly anticipating this documentary which followed a year in his life as a manager in Japan. For the most part, I was not disappointed.
As an enjoyable film, the Zen of Bobby V succeeds on all levels. Valentine is a ‘character’ and delivers plenty of hilarious moments. However, as a documentary the film suffers a bit, mostly from a lack of focus. The film is structured around the Chiba Marines 2007 baseball season, but it also focuses around Bobby V as a manager in Japan, around the cult of celebrity that has formed around him, around what is happening to baseball in Japan as more players come to America and Valentine’s attempts to change Japanese baseball so that it can survive.
Unfortunately, the film is not able to adequate server all of those masters, leaving it somewhat disjointed and not answering some of the most interesting questions of all. For example, the film spends a lot of time showing game footage, chronicling the journey of the Marines through the season until their eventual playoff defeat. But there is little connection between the season and Valentine as a person, making all those scenes rather superfluous to the larger story the film is trying to tell. So while a large part of the film is devoted to that, it leaves some larger issues unaddressed. For most is the question of WHY Valentine is such a celebrity in Japan. There is plenty that shows how is constantly mobbed in public and how he responds to it, but the film never addresses the center issue of the connection between Bobby V and the Japanese people. The cover the beer and the burger that he has had named after him, but not how a loopy American manager became a larger celebrity than any professional athlete in America.
It also raises the issue of the continuation of baseball in Japan now that American teams are hiring the stars away. This is an issue which Valentine is very passionate about, because he wants to preserve great baseball in Japan. And there is some small attention paid to it, as part of the larger story, but that to me, much more than one more season, is the true story of Valentine in Japan. Here is an American, who is getting offers to come back and manage in MLB, who is turning it down to try and save baseball in Japan. Much more could have been made of that.
But all these criticisms have to be taken in the context that these are ways the film could have been better, not things that made it a bad film. It is a wonderfully fun film to watch and while it might have been more, it is still strong as it is. A well-deserved four out of five.
April 29th, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I too saw the film this weekend and thought it was alot of fun! It was really cool seeing what Bobby V is up to in Japan.
While you’re right that the topic of the Japanese exodus to MLB is an interesting one, it should be left for another movie. I felt that while this film was meant to be informative it wasn’t a PBS/History Channel documentary. Rather the film is a day-in-the-life look into a season with Bobby V and his team in Japan. I also thought the reason why he is so loved was made very clear. Bobby was the first foreign manager to win in Japan, but more importantly he is an American fighting for the Japanese. It’s rare that Americans fight for anything other than their own interests. As unbelievable as it sounds, Bobby V, breaks the stereotype of the self-serving American and is shown as a strong advocate for Japanese baseball. He’s seen in the film speaking their language, being accessible to the locals, and lecturing on their behalf.
i agree that this film is definitely worth seeing!!!