Rob Munday

Having grown-up around the sport of squash – my Dad played and introduced me to the game at a young age – you can’t believe how long I’ve been waiting for a good squash short to land on our site. We’ve seen a decent number of tennis shorts, a handful of badminton shorts and even the odd ping-pong film on the circuit, but never a short set within the confines of the squash court…until now.

Alex Cohen’s gripping short Crack Shot is the tale of a troubled young squash player, Justin, who has somewhat of a love/hate relationship with the sport and has turned to coaching young players instead of competing. Pairing the intensity of the game, with a tension-filled storyline centred around themes of ambition, aggression and pushy fathers, Cohen’s kinetic short is a love letter to the sport and a damn entertaining watch.

As a squash player himself, Cohen admits he “felt compelled to tell a story within the unique setting of a squash court” and was looking to craft a narrative that would reflect upon his “various experiences and insecurities as a junior player in high school (and as a filmmaker now)”. Aware, like myself, that the sport had rarely been captured (accurately) on-screen, the writer/director recognised that a story set in the claustrophobic enclosure of the squash court could prove “a really engaging and novel experience for an audience”.

YiJie Lin as Justin Huang, a former junior open winner with a difficult relationship with the game.

He wasn’t wrong. The moment you’re placed in that court with the short’s young protagonist, whether just he’s warming up or playing against a younger up-and-comer, the energy of the sport and the filmmaking makes for a truly immersive experience. Casting two real squash players in the roles of his competing players shows how important authenticity was to Cohen, as he was determined to capture the “cinematic possibilities of a sport that has only ever been portrayed either for comedy/satire’s sake, or using actors who don’t really know how to play”.

Cohen establishes the scenario of his film quickly and with just under four minutes of the short’s 15-minute duration on the clock we’re thrown onto the court as Justin is hired as a training partner for a wealthy father’s son. From here on out the energy and engagement levels of the short are amplified no-end and we’re drawn into the match. As the supposed training match between the pair becomes more and more tense we soon realise the battle isn’t just on the court, but in Justin’s mind.

“The game is a beautiful, brutal, and loud dance, and I wanted to show that as accurately as possible and with dramatic stakes that match what it really feels like to play”, Cohen reveals as we discuss his production. Working with cinematographer Freddie Whitman, who learnt how to play squash to understand the pace and rhythm of the game, they do an outstanding job of capturing the fast-paced action of the sport. Often stuck within the restrictive space of the court, alongside the two players, Whitman’s camera doesn’t miss a beat. You can only imagine the precise choreography that must have gone into filming those scenes and the director admits that it was “critical” they came into the “shoot highly rehearsed and prepared”.

Cohen and his cinematographer Freddie Whitman switch between filming on and off the court to capture the intensity of the game.

With the filming starting more distanced and locked-down, as the intensity of the competition increases the camerawork becomes more intimate and handheld. However, for the final killer point, Cohen and Whitman shift their approach and position their lens outside of the court, giving the players the space to play and letting the action speak for itself. It’s a simple but powerful decision as the intensity of the rally is palpable and only works to amplify the precarious position Justin finds himself in at its climax.

As a squash player myself, I obviously have an affinity for the sport which I’m sure increased my enjoyment of this film (and also made me want to improve my game…a lot!). However, you don’t need to be a squash regular to appreciate Crack Shot, as the basic themes of the story – that inner competitiveness most of us will have struggled to contain at times – are easily relatable and the stellar production means the action is utterly hypnotic. Cohen’s short isn’t breaking any new ground in terms of capturing the energy of a sport on-screen, but it’s expertly done and the vibrancy of squash seems perfect cinematic fodder.

Cohen hopes there are others out there who agree, as although Crack Shot works as a standalone short, the director hopes his film garners interest for a feature set in the same universe. “It’s a complicated world that has so much to offer dramatically if treated right”, he states, adding that he’d “love nothing more than for this film to help audiences see that potential”. Alongside the feature version of this short, the filmmaker has a number of other projects at various stages of development, including a claustrophobic sci-fi two-hander, a post-apocalyptic thriller, a creature feature and more.

That’s a lot of irons in the fire, for now, we’ll just be keeping our fingers crossed for the feature adaptation of Crack Shot.