‘Next Goal Wins’: Taika Waititi’ movie gets hearty standing ovation at TIFF

A Toronto Film Festival audience was on its feet for Taika Waititi's underdog soccer comedy Next Goal Wins, with special applause going out to the real-life characters, coach Thomas Rongen and transgender soccer player Jaiyah Saelua, who were present for the world premiere on Sunday night at the Princess of Wales Theatre.

In a post-screening Q&A, Waititi introduced Kaimana's character Jaiyah, who plays the striker for the real-life American Samoa soccer club that memorably lost a game by a score of 31-0 in 2001. “That's the most interesting part of the story,” Waititi remarked.

Waititi also invited gruff Dutch soccer coach Rongen on stage, played by Michael Fassbender in the movie, and who at the lost point of his life ended up saving his career by coaching the failing American Samoan team.

Rongen remarked to Waititi about Fassbender's portrayal of the Dutch coach in Next Goal Wins, which was only loosely based on the real-life figure.

“You spun my head around a few times in this film,” Waititi was informed by Rongen. Next Goal Wins, which is based on the same-titled 2014 British documentary by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison, follows the American Samoa national football team and its coach as they attempt to improve from a side that consistently loses to one that can qualify for the FIFA World Cup.

Waititi claimed that after viewing the 2014 documentary, he was inspired to portray the tale of the worst soccer squad imaginable in American Samoa.

“I couldn’t believe it was a true story and I had to tell it and twist that truth,” the Maori filmmaker from New Zealand said with his trademark seditious humor that insinuated him to the Toronto audience.

In order to promote diversity and inclusion, Waititi added that working on Next Goal Wins gave him the opportunity to keep bringing indigenous tales and voices to the big screen.

“As a kid growing up, there weren’t many opportunities to see yourself on screen,” he told the TIFF audience, especially comedic portrayals of indigenous peoples.

The Toronto Film Festival, TIFF, continues through September 17.