The film Moneyball (2011), starring Brad Pitt as Billy Beane, ends with Beane listening to a recording of his daughter singing a song. It is a touching moment connected to an earlier scene in the film where she sang the song for him in a guitar store. What is the song?
I’m just a little bit caught in the middle;
Life is a maze and love is a riddle;
I don’t know where to go, can’t do it alone
I’ve tried, and I don’t know why.
I’m just a little girl lost in the moment;
I’m so scared but I don’t show it;
I can’t figure it out, it’s bringing me down
I know, I’ve got to let it go and just enjoy the show.
The song is “The Show” by Australian singer Lenka. The song originally appeared on her 2008 self-titled album, Lenka.
Moneyball bears rewatching if you have seen it already. When I saw it in the theater, I remember being disappointed at the ending. Unlike most sports movies, there is not a satisfying baseball action climax. While scenes of the game do play an important role, the movie is really about Beane. And “The Show” plays a key role in telling that story.
Below is a touching scene where Beane encourages his daughter to play the song. His daughter is played by Kerris Lilla Dorsey. When Dorsey auditioned for the part, she played “The Show,” feeling that one of her favorite songs suited the character. Director Bennett Miller loved the audition, hiring Dorsey and putting the song in the film (even though it had not been released at the time of events in the movie).
And below is part of one of the final scenes of Moneyball in a video where someone has intercut the movie’s earlier performance of the song. So while it is not exactly the ending, if you haven’t seen the movie, I would suggest you wait to watch the entire film to get the full impact.
Maybe that ending is just as good as a walk-off home run or a championship. It is certainly one of those times where I think Brad Pitt is underrated as a serious actor. The film also features wonderful performances by Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Check out the movie and enjoy the show.
Leave your two cents in the comments.
12-22-2020. Just watched moneyball again and had to look up the song.
Good article. Great movie.
But why that song? The movie was based on actual events that happened between 2001 to 2003 (?), and this song came out a few years after, as you said 2008.
I’m sure there is a little dramatic license here, although a good question as to why they didn’t at least use a song that was around at the time. Even assuming Beane’s daughter did play a song for him that resonated in real life, the director may have selected “The Show” for a number of reasons. It is a song that sounds like a little girl would sing it, the title of “The Show” is a phrase often used for Major League Baseball, and maybe most importantly, the vulnerability captured in the song reflects both what a daughter may feel and what Beane was perhaps burying with his projected confidence. So, finding a connection to his daughter’s fears in himself humanizes Beane, or at least Beane the movie character.
At least, that is why I think it works. But the reason it is in the movie may come down to a simpler explanation. Reportedly, when Kerris Dorsey, the young actress who played Beane’s daughter, auditioned for the part, she played Lenka’s “The Show” in her audition. Director Bennett Miller liked Dorsey and her rendition of the song so much, he decided to use it in the movie despite it not being historically accurate.
Dorsey later explained in an interview, “It’s one of my favorite songs of all time, and I felt that it suited the character. So I went in and I auditioned with that, and that was what I think cinched it for me.”
The last video is a fan edit for the song, it is not the original ending.
You’re right, I hadn’t noticed that they had inserted the earlier performance of the song within the ending scene. I’ve corrected it in the original post. Thanks and take care!