I love good football films (i.e. football as subject). By this I don’t mean Hollywood’s image of football like Green Street Hooligans (about a hooligan educated at Harvard. Serious) or the older Escape to Victory or Soccer Dog (yes, serious). Which reminds me of this hilarious blog post about American sports and television culture’s impact on the game.
But let’s stay in a positive mood.
Here’s a rundown of a couple of new (and recently released) films about the beautiful game that I am trying to see.
First up is “The Damned Utd.”
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I first read David Peace’s book on Brian Clough’s 44 days as manager of Leeds United in 1974 last summer in Dresden, Germany (I was there for a few weeks). This is the film adaptation. The reviews of the film version have been mixed (see the Financial Times and The Guardian) since the film came out in the UK last weekend.
Then there’s Ken Loach’s “Looking for Eric,” about a football-mad postman obsessed with Eric Cantona. (“I am not a man, I am Cantona”). I love Cantona and I love Loach’s films. I just hope “Ken Loach” is not a Manchester United fan.
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“Maradona: El pibe de oro” is a documentary by Emir Kusturica on probably the world’s greatest player of all time. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year. (British critics, predictably, have not been very kind).
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And finally, former French international Vikash Dhorasoo made a documentary, “The Substitute,” about his unhappy time on the bench during the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
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If there are other new films out there, let me know.
Nice one. Lets do a fest.
I’ll have news quickly on an attempt to do a fest here around this. Perhaps then we use the same films and go south with it during the big tournament.