Fast Girls: Get excited about the Olympics – see this film

When it comes to film, the scrappy British female underdog has legs these days: Andrea Arnold’s protaganists in Fishbowl and Red Road, the budding footballers in Bend It Like Beckham (now well-known stars), and now Fast Girls takes the baton with a story of athletes trying to win at the fictional London 2011 Championships.

The women each compete in individual events but also form an ill-suited relay team trying to achieve their dreams and win.

Watch the trailer and you’ll see the story arc doesn’t stray too far from the tried and true. Scrappy Shania (played by Lenora Crichlow) from the council estate with bags of raw talent and attitude comes up against privileged Lisa (played by Lily James), who’s been groomed for greatness from childhood. Shania’s coach, a shop owner, is played by the dodgy operator from the TV show Silk; Lisa’s pushy former-champion dad is Freddy in Room With a View.

Yet the standard storytelling fare (do you think they’ll triumph in the end?) doesn’t detract the teeth-gritting race scenes, the grimaces at wondering whether Shania will self-destruct, the emotional satisfaction of seeing the characters dig deep to face interior obstacles that keep them from winning. Just think: It could be Wimbledon.

What makes the film strong are the characters themselves. The characterisations strive beyond “the posh one” and “the girl from the estate”. These women don’t get a makeover and suddenly start dating the Head Boy. In addition to the main characters, the supporting cast all have stories to tell. The grande dame of the team and fastest runner Trix, played by Lorraine Burroughs, is a mother of a school-age child with a supportive husband (a black man portrayed as regular father – neither saint nor sinner). Trix talks to her teammates about being an athlete and a mother – a common real-life situation that doesn’t get much press. The charismatic and kittenish Belle, played by Lashana Lynch, applies lipstick before her races and jokes about meeting a sugar daddy sponsor, yet also works hard to keep the peace and make the relay team gel.

You see it even in the cinematography. The camera appreciates these women, not as fit totty but as sportswomen – capturing the beauty of the athletic female body without perving over it. (The actresses trained for six weeks.) Compare and contrast with coverage of, say, the Olympic beach volleyball team, in which the camera can’t remove its unblinking eye from the well-formed buttocks.

There’s something exciting going on with some British filmmakers. Loads of press out of America recently has heralded gifted female comedians like Kristen Wiig getting notice and play. A big hurrah for that. Here, homegrown films are dwelling on unlovely Britain, with its bleak council estates and lack of opportunity and ambition.The female characters in some of these stories are girls and women looking for something beyond a cute boyfriend and acceptance into the highest clique. In an unformed, sometimes misguided, way they’re searching for self-actualisation, to be whole people and make their way in their world.

Here’s a spoiler: At the end of Fast Girls there’s a brief romantic moment between Shania and a man she’s had her eye on. But then we cut to the team grabbing the British flag and racing down the track together, women arm-in-arm.

Whaddya know? A happy ending and it didn’t even have to end with a kiss.

More about the Fast Girls film:

What a real female sprinter thought of the film

 The Guardian review: “smart, unpretentious, with a great burst of speed”