Over 500 reviews

Category: Documentary

[Review] ‘Save The Crew: The Fans vs The System’ (2017)

Dec 17, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Documentary

If they give an Oscar for brilliant documentary made under incredible time pressure, Save the Crew: The Fans vs the System wins hands down. It starts with the first #SaveTheCrew rally: Morgan Hughes: “This is not over! If you came here for a funeral, you’re in the wrong place!”Crowd chants: “We’re not done yet! We’re…
Stateless teams compete in ‘Desert Fire’ (2016)

Dec 16, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Cultural, Documentary, Short

Working with the Bertha Foundation, The Guardian newspaper commissioned 12 short documentaries with global impact. Desert Fire covers a team representing Iraqi Kurdistan at the 2016 ConIFA World Cup.
[Review] ‘Gold Stars: The Story of the FIFA World Cup Tournaments’ (2017)

Dec 1, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Documentary

You could be 90 years old and remember the greatest moments of all the World Cups. Or you could watch Gold Stars: The Story of the FIFA World Cup Tournaments, released in advance of WC 2018 as a 2-disk set or via streaming.
‘New Generation Queens’ (2015) – when women can’t play football

Nov 28, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Cultural, Documentary

Megan went to Zanzibar and was looking for a pickup game. She found a women’s team called the New Generation Queens. They were getting chased off fields because Zanzibar is 99% Muslim, and women aren’t supposed to play football. But they prevail, and this pleasant little film, with an ethnographic story and a long title,…
’17’ (2017) is the Jordan we are meant to see

Nov 19, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Documentary

I viewed the documentary 17 at the 2017 Arab Film Festival in San Francisco. The purpose of the festival, now in its 21st year, is to challenge the Arab stereotypes that have been promulgated in American culture. The festival films “reflect the varied realities of Arab lives around the world.”
Football is medicine for ‘The Other Kids’ (2016)

Nov 13, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Documentary

First-time Director Pablo de la Chica initially set out to make a documentary about the young Ugandan players who had a chance to visit FC Barcelona in 2007. While investigating, de la Chica found Mubiru Reagan playing soccer in a garbage dump near the Mandela National Stadium. The landfill is heavy with the toxic smell…
Review: ‘The Streets Don’t Lie’ (2017)

Oct 20, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Documentary

The Streets Don’t Lie is a 3-episode mini-series from the 2017 season of Red Bull TV. Each 27-minute episode follows former French International Djibril Cissé as he travels to London, Berlin, and Paris. In each city, he interviews 3 candidates, from which he selects one player to train with a Red Bull academy for one…
Style and skill in ‘Concrete Football’ (2016)

Oct 18, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Documentary

After the USMNT debacle of failing to qualify for WC 2018, Americans are arguing how to create the best players in the world. Polemists should watch Ballon sur Bitume. Directors Jesse Adang and Syrine Boulanouar show how, in France, some of the most skilled players are rising from small playing fields in the hood.
More FIFA corruption in ‘The March of the White Elephants’ (2015)

Sep 24, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Documentary

In The March of the White Elephants, Director Craig Tanner continues the work he began with his first film, exposing the societal insanity of spending billions on stadiums for a one month soccer party.
The bad guys win in ‘Forever Pure’ (2016)

Sep 2, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Cultural, Documentary

As told to Director Maya Zinshtein, what goes on in a stadium is not just a mirror of society, but indicates the direction society is going. Forever Pure is a uniquely panoptic film of soccer and society. We see that football clubs can be a toy for oligarchs, a tool for politicians, a burning torch…
Romanian corruption in ‘Craiova versus Craiova’ (2016)

Aug 5, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Documentary

What is the most extraordinary aspect of the documentary Craiova versus Craiova? It’s not that 2 teams claimed to be the same club and then played each other in the Romanian Second Division. What’s amazing is that this excellent film was created by a student as his senior journalism project at a Brazilian university. Director…
Could ‘George Best: All by Himself’ (2016) happen today?

Aug 2, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Documentary

Director Daniel Gordon brings different insights to his @ESPN3030 George Best movie, but is the story even relevant today? Players now are too valuable to let fail.
The poverty around WC 2010 is ‘Meanwhile in Mamelodi’ (2011)

Jul 1, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Cultural, Documentary

During the month the 2010 World Cup is played in South Africa, Director Benjamin Kahlmeyer shows the life that goes on, meanwhile, in the impoverished township of Mamelodi. The township is only 16 miles from Loftus Stadium, but residents’ interaction is mostly limited to buying noisy vuvuzuelas and enjoying Bafana Bafana’s games on small black…
Turkish fans under oppression in ‘Ayaktakimi’ (2015)

Jun 29, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Cultural, Documentary

In Turkey, Supporters Groups are the real fans, and everyone else is just a spectator. Filmmakers Naz Gündogdu and Friedemann Pitschak have documented a life that Americans have not yet experienced: being a fan in the face of political oppression.
Being ‘Men in The Arena’ (2017) helps exit Somalia

Jun 20, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Cultural, Documentary

Men in the Arena comes to your screen in the time of the xenophobic Trump Administration. It took over 3 years for Writer-Director J.R. Biersmith to deliver his tale of 2 young Somalian footballers, whose steadfast friendship and soccer skills are crucial in bringing them to the USA.
‘Win!’ (2016) is a good documentary and not an infomercial

May 6, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Documentary

Last week, the NYCFC documentary Win! showed up on the NY Yankees YES cable channel. I reluctantly did my duty, because after all, who wants to watch a movie with an exclamation point in the title?
[Review] ‘Les Bleus: Une Autre Histoire de France’ (2016)

May 1, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Cultural, Documentary

Les Bleus: Another History of France maps the French football team performance with the nation’s social struggles from 1996-2016. But does the film convey an implicit bias? It is unique in that it does not whitewash the team’s history, and it leaves much to think about.
A gritty insider’s view of ‘Going Pro: American Soccer’ (2014)

Apr 4, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Documentary

Going Pro: American Soccer is a gritty insider’s view of the young men on the 2012 Brooklyn Knights, then a 4th division amateur PDL team. Director Sebastian Podesta captures tough moments as the Knights struggle to light up the scoreboard. Players aspire to become paid professionals, and a winning record is essential for any of…
‘The Romanov Revolution’ (2005) – a Russian oligarch story

Mar 13, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Documentary

Evil Russian men come in many stereotypes: dictators, KGB, hackers, hooligans, doping athletes, oligarchs, and football team owners. The Romanov Revolution is a 2005 BBC Frontline Scotland TV documentary about Vladimir Romanov, then new owner of Heart of Midlothian FC, in Edinburgh, Scotland.
A buddy trip through Ireland and its ‘Celtic Soul’ (2016)

Mar 8, 2017

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by

MJ-A

in Comedy, Cultural, Documentary

Jay Baruchel and Eoin O’Callaghan drive across Ireland in search of Jay’s Irish roots and their shared Celtic Soul. It’s a self-described collection of lovely moments tied together within the larger context of what it means to be an immigrant, to be Irish, and to be a fan of Celtic FC.