The female driven sports documentary Curl Power balances a highly detailed depiction of being a teenage athlete with illustrating the power of simply showing up for others. It has all of the standard sports movie tropes – high drama, personal battles, bodies seen in rest and motion, training that pushes people to their limits – but director Josephine Anderson is also able to go to some unexpected, deeply personal places, all amid the backdrop of a sport that sometimes isn’t given a proper amount of respect for how hard it can be.
The sport in question, in case you haven’t already guessed from the title, is curling. Anderson embeds herself with the “4KGIRL$,” a team made up of five teenage girls from Maple Ridge, BC across the span of several years, watching the young women mature, both in terms of their game and their personal lives. The team has high expectations for themselves, something compounded by the fact that three of them – Ashley Dezura, Amy Wheatcroft, and Brook Aleksic – have mothers/coaches that are proven champions on the ice. The big dream is to win the junior national championship, but the difficulties of growing up and becoming an adult sometimes get in the way of greatness.
Gorgeously shot, uniquely unpredictable, and effectively capturing pleasing small town vibes and athletic movie drama with equal aplomb, Curl Power weaves a tale of modern female empowerment against the backdrop of a sport that’s often seen as old fashioned and stodgy by outsiders. The talents of these young women are getting stronger, but so too are the pressures from the outside world, some that will pull them further away from the sport itself. One of the young women profiled by Anderson (and also one of the coaches, by proxy) is quietly going through something deeply profound and life changing, trying to push down all their feelings for the greater good of the team. Many of these young women wrestle with insecurities about the progression of their talent level, body image, and the future, all of which is deeply relatable to a wider audience beyond the curling world, and is handled with tact, grace, and empathy by Anderson, who never seems to be pushing her subjects into forced reactions or comments.
Curl Power also lets the teens be themselves; hanging out, having fun, chatting about their lives, noticing boys, and generally enjoying each others’ company. There’s a simplicity to Anderson’s approach that makes these teenagers effortlessly endearing. You don’t need to love the sport of curling to enjoy Curl Power, but it sure doesn’t hurt. Either way, audiences will be treated to a rock solid coming of age documentary just the same.
Curl Power opens in select Canadian theatres on Friday, January 24, 2025, with many Cineplex locations offering select screenings on January 25 & 26.
