The Beauty of "Air": An '80s sports drama perfectly timed with our hallmark moment

There are plenty of reasons why "Air," the sensational new movie starring Matt Damon and directed by Ben Affleck, is consumed by audiences with eager delight. It's the rare adult drama these days that people really want to see in a movie theater (I don't mean that sounds negative; the movie might start a trend). And it's not a random triumph. "Air," based on the true story of Nike, Michael Jordan, and the man who brought them together, is full of juicy inside talk about money, sports, fame, and what agents and agents actually do. marketing managers. In this way, he has the qualities that define both "Jerry Maguire" and "Moneyball".

The script is by Alex Convery, who came out of nowhere (this is his first feature produced footage), and I'd personally like to give a high-five to any screenwriter who creates this kind of dialogue - bright and crisp and nimble, with cutting worldliness, the kind of conversation that's been a driving force behind great movies for 100 years . People are talking! Spitting out what's on their mind, or cleverly concealing it, as we cling to every word. “Air” came at just the right time to remind us that great actors delivering savory lines of dialogue are the most special effect a movie needs.

The film is a catchy piece of the 80s period, but not because it says: "Yo, check out the 80s details! It's more because Affleck, who is such a flippant director, the kind that does it all but doesn't let the sweat show, creates an 1980s texture that's right there , both smooth and gathered and lived-in, enveloping the characters and defining how they think.

It offers some retrospective laughs, like when Phil Knight, the co-founder and CEO of Nike (played by Affleck with a spiky comic command), explains why Nike derives its revenue from running shoes, so why would it want to get into the sports sneaker business? The film's needle-drops, from "Money for Nothing" that quickens the opening moments to "Rock the Casbah" and "Sister Christian," produce perfect moments of propulsion and reflection. And Damon, wearing dull khakis and hideous pinstripes, with a middle parting and a paunch he seems to have earned, takes you under the cunning peddler gaze of Sonny Vaccaro, the sports marketing executive with an idea which turns into a vision: He will sign Michael Jordan, the budding NBA superstar who was then 21, to an exclusive contract with Nike.

Jordan doesn't care much about Nike. He's an Adidas man, and Nike doesn't have a lot of money to offer endorsements to star athletes. So why on earth would he sign with them? What Sonny understands - it's what Don Draper understood on "Mad Men" - is that you can't have a great marketing concept if it's not backed by a dream. Sonny is a salesman, but what he asks is: what does Nike sell? Is it a shoe? The brilliance of Michael Jordan? Or is Nike selling something richer and deeper – an idea of ​​who Michael Jordan is that will be defined and changed by how he's marketed? And will it, therefore, change what his fans think of him? The deal Sonny is trying to put together isn't just for a celebrity endorsement. He's trying to create some of the meaning of Michael Jordan.

"Jerry Maguire" was a romance. "Moneyball" was about a new algorithm for building a team, but the movie pivoted on a classic journey to try and get into the World Series. “Air,” on the other hand, is simply a drama about a shoe company doing whatever it can to get a deal done. We know, famously, how the story ended; it's not like there's a great thriller. So why is "Air" such a catchy movie? In many ways, it's a throwback, taking us back to the kind of sharp mainstream entertainment that navigated the intelligence of audiences. Yet part of what's so clever about "Air" is that this 1980s story is fueled by a very, very contemporary element. The whole movie is about branding, and why branding, when done right, can seem like everything.

Branding is now something we all do. Social media is, at this stage, only a secondary form of communication; it's a vehicle that people use to position the...