Suzannah Herbert/Lauren Belfer's WRESTLE is a riveting, heartfelt teen sports documentary

The best documentary about high school sports competitions TrustMovies has seen since the Oscar-winning Undefeated (from 2011), WRESTLE, the new film directed by Suzannah Herbert, co-directed by Lauren Belfer, and co-written by both of them, along with Pablo Proenza, has been compared to the basketball documentary Hoop Dreams but strikes me as much closer in form, spirit and running-time to Undefeated.

So richly, quietly and thoroughly does the filmmaking team manage to embed you in the lives, needs, problems and desires of its quartet of high school wrestlers, by the time you leave this modest but hugely compelling little movie, you may feel that these four  young men and their wonderful wrestling coach have become part of your own family.

This is because Ms Herbert, shown at right, and Ms Belfer (below), along with Mr. Proenza (shown two photos below), who did the ace editing on the film,

became so close to their wrestlers, their families and and the team's coach that they were able to obtain footage in which emotions are real and often quite raw; humor is plentiful, too; then all of this has been edited so that what we see slowly grows into characters who are so much more than mere wrestlers. We view their young lives, as well as those of their family, friends and -- in one case, paramor -- as fraught, tentative yet hopeful.

Wrestle, finally, is about much more than merely winning the game,

though the suspense and hope registered along this route, is terrific, too.

In addition to some interesting wrestling -- we see enough of the game to begin to appreciate the moves of the team members that lead to their wins or losses -- we also view the boys' love for family, coach and each other.

Three of the team members are black (Jaquan, Jamario and Jailen) and one white (Teague), and as the film takes place in Huntsville, Alabama, at J.O. Johnson High School, which had been on the state's list of "failing schools" for years, we also note the local cops' interactions with two of the (surprise, surprise!) black team members. Race seems less of a problem among the team mates than in society at large. (The movie's sweetest, most tender moment comes as Teague places his head on Jaquan's shoulder.)

The co-directors actually lived in Huntsville full-time while filming, and this must in part account for the enormous intimacy achieved here, as well as for the filmmakers' ability to be in the right place at the right time so often.

The four boys are wonderfully diverse; we root for them all, including their coach. And, yes, he's white, but I hope we don't have to hear any more bullshit about why we should not show a white man helping poor, deprived black kids. (For anyone who insists upon that, may I recommend you read this splendid and appropriate article, The Trouble With Uplift by Adolf Reed from that great progressive magazine, The Baffler.) Who wins and who loses will surprise and move you. And the final end-credit notes regarding Where are they now? will do the same.

In terms of intimacy and accomplishment, Wrestle is also on a part with 2017's wonderful documentary, Night School. And though we learn the usual things we'd expect from a documentary about a team hoping to win a championship, the filmmakers seem to deliberately stop short of providing any kind of actual "happy ending."

The lives of these boys have barely begun, yet already, the challenges ahead seem massive. This movie will entertain you, sure, but it will also make you think and feel and care and, yes, wrestle with the idea of what America was and is and could be. I mean, really: what more could you ask from a movie today? Oh, right: explosions, car chases and lots of special effects.

From Oscilloscope Films and running 96 minutes, Wrestle opens this Friday, February 22, in New York City at the Village East Cinema, and on Friday, March 1, in Los Angeles at the Monica Film Center. I can't find any other between-the-coasts screenings listed on the film's web site, but perhaps once the rave reviews and great world-of-mouth appear after opening, we'll see more availability around the rest of the country. Hope so!

The WWE's LEGENDARY pairs Cena and Clarkson and proves a pretty good movie

It's been awhile since the theatrical screen was treated to a decent look at adolescent wrestling (remember Take Down, the movie that put Lorenzo Lamas on the map?). While we view countless films about adolescents wrestling with love, sex, school and parents, seeing them actually wrestling with each other in competition -- and having this provide one of the motivating forces for the film at hand -- is relatively unusual.

Furthermore, to have seen LEGENDARY, the new movie from WWE Studios (that's World Wrestling Entertainment, for the uninitiated like TrustMovies) at a press screening immediately prior to seeing The Extra Man proved an enlightening experience.  Expecting to revel in the latter movie and to dutifully sit through the former (because a favorite of mine, Patricia Clarkson, was one of the stars), instead, I actually found myself enjoying the unpretentious pleasures of the wrestling movie and dutifully enduring the misfires of the much more sophisticated but problematic Extra Man.

Directed proficiently by television veteran Mel Damski (shown at right) and written competently by John Posey (a TV actor whose first screen-writing gig this appears to be), Legendary boasts a surprisingly good cast.  This includes, in addition to Ms Clarkson and an underused Danny Glover, some nods to the younger set -- the teenage Dexter, Devon Graye; Californication's Madeleine Martin; and Tyler Posey, from Lincoln Heights and Brothers & Sisters, who is also the son of the screenwriter -- and a big nod, of course, to the wrestling crowd in the person of champion wrestler turned actor and hip hop musician: John Cena (shown below).

As good as Ms Clarkson is (as usual, she's very good), Mr. Cena proves the real star of the show. After two tries at would-be (PG-13) violent action heroics -- The Marine and 12 Rounds -- that didn't pay off critically or at the box-office, it may be that a good "family" film like Legendary is the beefy fellow's real métier. Though this guy is clearly a disciple of the less-is-more school of acting, unlike master practitioner Clint Eastwood -- who appears to believe that, regarding acting, if less-is-more, then nothing is best of all -- Cena actually allows some feelings, however haltingly and angrily, to come through.  I wouldn't be surprised to learn that director Damski had coached Cena in a such a way that the wrestler/actor's attempts to try to act were then used in the very scenes in which his character must open up and express a different side of himself. However it happened, the result works. Whether he's beating up some blow-hard in a bar, or having a dramatic scene with Clarkson, who plays his mom, or Graye, who essays his younger brother, the guy is always believable and sometimes even quietly moving.

The plot begins with the bullying of the Graye character (above, left, with Tyler Posey) and then moves to the story of his family -- mom (Clarkson, shown at bottom) and an estranged and in-and-out-of-prison older brother (Cena) -- all still reeling from the sudden death, years earlier, of its wrestling champ patriarch. Also involved are a local girl (Ms Martin, below) whose unrequited crush on Graye has led her into some slutty activities and the somehow involved solitary man (Glover) who pops up at odd times and whose identity eventually comes clear (this is the sub-plot least well-handled by the filmmakers).

To the film's credit, it covers subjects like sex, drugs, bullying and the like with a clearer eye and mind than have some "family" films, and its view of the importance of winning, while not particularly original, is still welcome in these dumbed-down times of all-or-nothing philosophy and behavior.

Well-cast and acted better than you'll expect, Legendary, despite (or maybe because of) its television provenance, proves fine family entertainment that's packed with heart and intelligence. Call it a Take Down for the 21st Century.

The movie opens all over the country this Friday, September 10. Click the film's website and then scroll down and click on TICKETS & THEATERS to see a list of the many cities and movie houses in which you'll find it. (In New York City, the 107-minute film plays at the Clearview First & 62nd 7).