Eat/Sleep/Cheer/Repeat: Film Review
Ever since I fell in love with the iconic film Bring It On as a teenager, I have been attracted to films, TV shows and documentaries about cheerleading. I will watch everything about the sport so naturally I had to see Eat/Sleep/Cheer/Repeat, which is showing at the Irish Film Festival London this weekend.
The film is set in late 2021 and early 2022 in Galway and follows the Irish team as they train to compete in the Cheerleading World Champions in Orlando, Florida if they go ahead amid the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic. The featured players include Jessica and Rickie, the longest-serving members of the team, coach Hilton Holian and other team members Bláthnaid, Dean and Jayleesa.
Cheerleading is widely considered as only an American thing and I had personally only seen American teams on screen so it was refreshing to see it from the Irish perspective and observe the differences. For example, the Navarro College team in the Netflix series Cheer clearly has a lot more money than the Irish national team. This is baffling but cheerleading is more popular and respected in the U.S. and is not even recognised as a sport in Ireland, so it is an extra-curricular activity outside of school and jobs and the team has to fundraise.
I’m biased as I’m deeply interested in it anyway, but I was fascinated by Eat/Sleep/Cheer/Repeat. I’m used to watching “the best” cheerleading teams (Navarro were NCA champs at the time) so I liked watching a team with plenty of room for improvement. My favourite featured player, Hilton, constantly expresses his concerns that the routine isn’t as clean and polished as it needs to be, despite their hard work, determination and commitment. They don’t train as often as American collegiate teams and it shows. However, that makes the Worlds sequence much more gripping because it’s not a given that they’re going to ace it. I held my breath as I watched their routines!
I liked Eat/Sleep/Cheer/Repeat because it offered a new perspective on cheerleading. But I think there’s still plenty to get out of it if you’re not invested in the subject because it is joyful and uplifting and shines a light on a wonderful bunch of people.
Showing at the Irish Film Festival London this weekend. See the schedule here.