''A Most Beautiful Thing'' is a 2020 documentary film chronicling the history of the first US

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

public high school rowing team, composed of young men from the

West Side West Side or Westside may refer to: Places Canada * West Side, a neighbourhood of Windsor, Ontario * West Side, a neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * West Side, Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland * Westside, Birmingham E ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, many of whom were in rival gangs. The film is narrated by

Common Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally com ...

, directed by filmmaker and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

rower

Mary Mazzio Mary Mazzio is an American documentary filmmaker, attorney, and Rowing at the 1992 Summer Olympics, a rower for the United States in the 1992 Olympics. She founded the independent film company 50 Eggs Films, 50 Eggs. Mazzio received a B.A. in p ...

, and produced by

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

athletes

Grant Hill Grant Henry Hill (born October 5, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player who is a co-owner and executive of the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He attended Duke University and is widely considere ...

and

Dwyane Wade Dwyane Tyrone Wade Jr. (; born January 17, 1982) is an American former professional basketball player. Wade spent the majority of his 16-year career playing for the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and won three NBA champi ...

along with

9th Wonder Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a Hip hop music, hip-hop score for the film. Fifty percent of the film's profits will be donated to support inclusion efforts within the sport of rowing as well as trauma research and social justice initiatives with the NAACP.

Synopsis

''A Most Beautiful Thing'' follows the story of the first African American public high school rowing team in the United States. Formed in the 1990s at Manley High School and based in Chicago's West Side, the team was made up of young men, many of whom were members of rival gangs. Reuniting after 20 years, the team gets back on the water to prepare to race in the 2019 Chicago Sprints, the largest rowing

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

. In the process, Arshay Cooper, the team's captain, takes inspiration from the past and reaches out to the

Chicago Police Department The Chicago Police Department (CPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois, under the jurisdiction of the City Council. It is the second-largest municipal police department in the United States, behind t ...

to show that rowing can bring even people with the most disparate of backgrounds together. ''A Most Beautiful Thing'' features interviews with former US Secretary of Education

Arne Duncan Arne Starkey Duncan (born November 6, 1964) is an American educator who served as United States Secretary of Education from 2009 to 2015 and as Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2008. A lifelong resident of Chicago, Du ...

, Olympic coach Mike Teti, Olympic rower David Banks, and Olympic International Committee Member

Anita DeFrantz Anita Lucette DeFrantz (born October 4, 1952) is an American Olympic rower, member of the International Olympic Committee, and twice Vice-President of International Rowing Federation (FISA). Biography DeFrantz was born in 1952 in Philadelphia, ...

Production and release

''A Most Beautiful Thing'' was inspired by team captain Arshay Cooper's 2015 memoir ''Suga Water'', which was republished June 30, 2020 by Flatiron Books under the name ''A Most Beautiful Thing''. The film was executive produced by

athletes

and

along with 9th Wonder. Bill Hudson, John H. Carlson, Bill McNabb and Katie McNabb, Ginny Gilder and Lynn Slaughter, Bryan White and Christine White, Bruce Herring and Tricia Herring, Cameron Winklevoss and

Tyler Winklevoss Tyler Howard Winklevoss (born August 21, 1981) is an American investor, founder of Winklevoss Capital Management and Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, and Olympic rower. Winklevoss co-founded HarvardConnection (later renamed ConnectU) along with hi ...

, Ted Dintersmith, Derek Dudley, Doris Casap, Ashley Bekton,

Chaz Ebert Chaz Ebert (born Charlie Hammel; October 15, 1952) is an American attorney and businesswoman. Early life and education Ebert was born in Chicago to Johnnie Hobbs Hammel and Wiley Hammel Sr. She attended Crane Technical High School in Chicago. S ...

, and Rick Lane are also listed as executive producers. Originally selected as a Documentary Spotlight, ''A Most Beautiful Thing'' was set to premiere at

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

on March 16, 2020 and premiere nationally with AMC Theatres on March 27, 2020. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the film's release was pushed back to July 31, 2020 when it opened on

Xfinity Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...

. On July 30, 2020 the film became available on Comcast

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primari ...

's Xfinity before moving to its

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

streaming service on September 4, 2020. The film was additionally made available on

Amazon Prime Amazon Prime is a paid subscription service from Amazon which is available in various countries and gives users access to additional services otherwise unavailable or available at a premium to other Amazon customers. Services include same, one- ...

on October 30, 2020.

Reception

''A Most Beautiful Thing'' received positive reviews by critics.

Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

critic

Frank Scheck Frank Scheck is an American film critic. He is best known for his reviews in the ''New York Post'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter''. He formerly edited ''STAGES Magazine'' and worked as a theater critic for the ''Christian Science Monitor Ch ...

wrote:

The timing couldn't be more fortuitous for the release of Mary Mazzio's uplifting documentary about the nation's first African American high school rowing team, which feels almost like a tonic for these troubled times… tpowerfully demonstrates the healing potential of sports and the ways it can help bridge societal divides… A movie we could really use right now

Additional reviews called the film "absolutely a must watch" by '' Deadspin;'' "amazing" by the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

''; "one of the best documentaries to unveil at South by Southwest" by the team at

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

; and "one of the best films this decade" by ChicagoNow. ''A Most Beautiful Thing'' has been met with critical success and was nominated in 2020 for Best Sports Documentary at the 5th Annual Critics' Choice Documentary Awards. The film has had events and screenings hosted by members of Congress, the

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

, professional sports teams, colleges and universities as well as key

HBCU Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

institutions, companies, and community groups. On October 30, 2020

FILA Fila Holdings Corp. is a sportswear brand of shoes and apparel. The company was founded by Ettore and Giansevero Fila in 1911 in Coggiola, near Biella, Piedmont, Italy. In 2003, it was sold to United States-based Sports Brand International. Sub ...

released a limited edition FILAxAMBT Tennis 88 sneaker with proceeds benefitting the A Most Beautiful Thing Inclusion Fund which was established by the George Pocock Rowing Foundation to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in the sport of rowing. The film also partnered with

Pepsi Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

and the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

to host A MOST BEAUTIFUL THING WEEKEND included a film screening and conversation with executive producer Grant Hill, Director Mary Mazzio, and author Arshay, as well as a performance by Reuben Vincent and Khrysis (who both appear on the A MOST BEAUTIFUL THING soundtrack), and a 1000 meal give-away for families experiencing food insecurity.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Most Beautiful Thing 2020 films 2020 documentary films American sports documentary films Documentary films about African Americans Rowing films Scholastic rowing in the United States Films shot in Chicago Films set in Chicago 2020s English-language films 2020s American films