Reviews of soccer movies and football films
Documentaries about football, Fußball, and soccer
If you watched the end of the 2011-2012 EPL season, you saw the spoiler role QPR almost played in Man City’s league championship. And if that were all you knew about QPR, you would have assumed The Four Year Plan was some kind of feel-good Moneyball success story. Its not.
Continue reading “Review: The Four Year Plan (2011)”
Soccer’s Lost Boys is an evocative documentary about soccer trafficking in Africa. Vanguard correspondent Mariana van Zeller interviews players, parents, and coaches to show how West African families hand over life savings to agents who promise a tryout in Europe. Continue reading “Review: Soccer’s Lost Boys (2010)”
I imagine One Night in Turin is very difficult to watch if you were an England fan during their semi-final shoot-out loss to West Germany in WC 1990. Writer-Director James Erskine captures the many emotions and struggles of the country, the coach, the team (including Paul Gascoigne), and its fans. Apparently for some, this film is so dead-on that it causes players to bring back the tears they shed that night in Turin.
Continue reading “Review: One Night in Turin (2010)”
Les Arbitres (The Referees) is a French documentary that follows several referees during Euro 2008. Much like the French movie about Zidane, there is no voice over or commentary to the footage as you watch and listen to the communication headsets of top referees while they work the games.
Continue reading “Review: Les Arbitres (2009)”
If you care about the biz side of the MLS, and you didn’t experience the NASL, you need to watch Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos. This 2006 documentary reveals the marketing manipulations and public excitement behind the 1970s New York Cosmos.
Continue reading “Review: Once in a Lifetime – NY Cosmos (2006)”
Kick Like a Girl is a 25-minute HBO documentary that follows a team of 8 yo girls who, having devastated all competition the previous two years, decide to get more challenge by playing in the boys division.
Continue reading “Review: Kick Like a Girl (2008)”
In the Hands of the Gods follows five British freestylers over a 6-week odyssey as the young men work their way from London to Argentina to meet Diego Maradona. Continue reading “Review: In the Hands of the Gods (2007)”
Variously named as the The Art of Soccer with John Cleese or the Art of Football from A to Z, it appears this made for TV film was commissioned by Germany for WC 2006. John Cleese pontificates on 26 alphabetical aspects of the game.
Continue reading “Review: The Art of Soccer with John Cleese (2006)”
Chivas USA: Sí, se puede follows the front office and coach Thomas Rongen as they try to convert a 99-year-old Mexican product (Club Deportivo Guadalajara, aka Chivas Guadalajara) into a successful MLS expansion team. Continue reading “Chivas USA: Sí, se puede (2005)”
Unfortunately for viewers who don’t know who Jay DeMerit is, the first-time filmmakers of The Jay DeMerit Story present his history chronologically. So it takes awhile for the non-soccer fan to understand why his story is even worth telling.