Tag: British
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‘Bobby Robson’ (2018) – his resilience defied vilification
Bobby Robson: More than a Manager is an extraordinary compilation of Robson archive footage interspersed with A-list interviews of coaches and players he influenced. Before this film, I didn’t know who Robson was, but in his prime, he is so alive and captivating that I could have watched him for another 2 hours. It is…
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Where did ‘United We Fall’ (2014) go wrong?
As viewers, we sort of expect that a mockumentary will play out, as Bob Balaban has described, like “spending time with a bunch of really funny and totally harmless mental patients.” Christopher Guest set a very high bar for mockumentary, and I have no doubt that, when Writer-Director Gary Sinyor outlined his plan for United…
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‘The Hooligan Factory’ (2014) – hooligans are funny?
Who knew that soccer hooligan movies are a genre? And that they have been so successful that 2014 was a good time for someone to spoof them? The Hooligan Factory sat in my Amazon Prime watchlist for quite awhile because I assumed it was just another hooligan movie.
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Why was ‘Bobby’ (2016) Moore overlooked?
The documentary Bobby (aka Bo66y) is a tribute film to Bobby Moore, who captained England to its only World Cup title in 1966. The film was produced by BBC and Sky sports presenter Matt Lorenzo to coincide with the 50th anniversary.
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‘The Pass’ (2016) keeps its grip from stage to film
Retaining its stage heritage, The Pass takes place in 3 hotel rooms at 5 year intervals. On the eve of a Champions League game, 2 young footballer teammates share a gay encounter that shapes their subsequent careers. Five years later, Jason (Russell Tovey) is an EPL star going through a divorce and uses a table…
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‘The Workers Cup’ (2017) normalizes Qatar
Now that WC 2018 has finished in Russia (Congratulations to Les Bleus!), the eyes of the world turn to WC 2022 in Qatar. But as happened with Russia, the eyes of football fans are blind to the exploitation and corruption that FIFA has facilitated for these two tournaments. The Workers Cup might open your eyes…
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‘Soka Afrika’ (2011): well-meaning but misinformed
The problem of human trafficking through football, also known as football trafficking, has been covered in the media for almost 10 years. In Soka Afrika, Suridh Hassan puts together a sensitive portrayal of 2 teenage footballers trying to make a career in Europe in 2009. However, I do not recommend this documentary because it puts…
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‘One Night in Istanbul’ (2014) – a funny film about LFC
Many congratulations to Liverpool FC and their fans for making it back to the Champions League Final in 2018. It makes a great time to enjoy football feature films about Liverpool FC: Reds and Blues, Will, Hillsborough, and now, One Night in Istanbul. There are more I haven’t seen!
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In the Hooligan genre: ‘White Collar Hooligan 3’ (2014)
After The Football Factory, I swore I wouldn’t watch any more Hooligan movies. They seem to be a genre of violence, sex, and drugs, with a little bit of football as context. As in, we gotta go to a West Ham game on the way to the violence, sex, and drugs we are going to…
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‘Forbidden Games: The Justin Fashanu Story’ (2017) overlooks assault
Whether you are straight or gay, Forbidden Games documents a story that is tough to watch. As his brother John has noted, if Justin Fashanu had been born 30 years later, he would have been a hero. Instead, Justin’s life story is filled with regret from almost all who knew him. Stop right there, I’m…
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‘Early Man’ (2018) is a remarkable piece of art and football
What’s not to like about Nick Park and Aardman Animations’ Early Man? Apparently it depends on whether your country favors the round or pointy kind of football. Whereas UK reviews are all positive, American reviews included comments as nasty as “Who cares if cavemen could play soccer?”
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Review: ‘I Scored a Goal in the FIFA World Cup Final’ (2010)
I Scored a Goal in the FIFA World Cup Final is such a hokey title, that I thought this film must be a spoof. But no, it is an ESPN compilation of interviews of the then 33 remaining players who had actually done the deed, up through WC 2010.
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Stateless teams compete in ‘Desert Fire’ (2016)
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.
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Review: ‘The Streets Don’t Lie’ (2017)
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…
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Could ‘George Best: All by Himself’ (2016) happen today?
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.
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‘Wonderkid’ (2016) has a wondrous film production
For a guy taking his first steps in creating a film, Director Rhys Chapman made all the right moves. He strategically took Wonderkid from awareness campaign, to fund raising, through a 5-day shoot, and then to fruition. All along, his mission was to educate viewers by portraying homophobia and the need to counter it by…
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‘Jack to a King’ (2014) – the fans saved Swansea once upon a time
Jack to a King – The Swansea Story is a love song to the supporters of Swansea City AFC, who saved the club from obliteration. Director Marc Evans tells an intricate story of how Swansea survived and then rose to the Premier League.
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Trying to qualify for WC 2010 in ‘Laduma! Benin’s Journey’ (2011)
Part travelogue, part cultural anthropology, and part football history, Director Richard Shepherd’s film Laduma! Benin’s Journey captures an insider’s view as a small African nation tries to qualify for WC 2010.
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‘Russia’s Hooligan Army’ (2017) is painfully real
Thinking of going to WC 2018? Watch Russia’s Hooligan Army. It may change your mind, especially if you are British and male. This BBC TV documentary starts with news footage of the Russian hooligan attacks at Euro 2016. Then, it turns the spigot on full blast in sensationalist interviews with Russian supporters group leaders, who…
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‘Dennis Viollet: A United Man’ (2016) and a Busby Babe survivor
Rachel Viollet’s documentary may have started as a memorial to her father, Dennis Viollet of Manchester United fame. But as she conducted interviews and collected history, her film also became an intriguing record of how the soccer world changed around him and because of him.
