Tag: First-feature
-
How to win with ‘Total Football: the Movie’ (2009)
There are things to like about Total Football: the Movie, and largely those occur in the last 30 minutes of the film. What the team does to win made me enjoy this Australian film.
-
‘American Pharaoh’ (2014) too often feels like a home movie
American Pharaoh is Hossam Aboul-Magd’s first shot at directing and is a 60 minute documentary for PBS. Hossam is a one-man film crew, following Bradley and his wife Lindsay during their 2 year residency in Cairo. He became their friend, and perhaps that is why the film is so weak.
-
‘Next Goal Wins’ (2014) – the original documentary
With Next Goal Wins, the film and its back story are equally interesting. American Samoa is the last place team in FIFA world rankings but is trying to qualify for WC 2014. The American Samoan team has not won a game since 1983 and has been outscored 229-2. In WC 2002 qualifying, they gave up a record 31…
-
‘Land of Storms’ (2014) is not very sexy but the football is okay
The easiest way to describe Land of Storms (Viharsarok) is a Hungarian Brokeback Mountain with soccer players. I confess that I watched this movie at 2x speed because of its slow pace and plethora of homophobic violence. There are also a lot of sex scenes and even a 3-way, but the scenes aren’t very sexy.
-
An improvised Israeli-Palestine coupling in ‘Strangers’ (2007)
After winning a short film competition at Sundance 2004, Israeli directors Erez Tadmor and Guy Nattiv obtained funding to develop Strangers into a feature length film. Influenced by the Dogme95 au naturel approach to filmmaking, the directors set out without a script, but with 2 actors and 1 camera. The plan was to film from…
-
The reviews deserve to be harsh for ‘Fondi ’91’ (2013)
Fondi ’91 follows a team of 16 year old Jersey boys who travel to the small town of Fondi, Italy in 1991 to play in a soccer tournament. Some of the boys are very randy and keen to hook up with Italian fillies or stallions.
-
Young monks get to watch ‘The Cup’ (1999)
You don’t expect much to happen in a Buddhist monastery. So it is not surprising that Phörpa (The Cup) is very slow paced. A spirited young soccer-obsessed monk defies the monastery’s way of life in order to watch World Cup 1998. But the abbot, although he does not understand why men fight over a ball…
-
‘In the Hands of the Gods’ (2007) first docu from Fulwell 73
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. This documentary is very similar to the movie Pelada, but it has a lot more friction and conflict, because the five have set out on their…
-
‘Yesterday’s Hero’ (1979) Football meets Suzanne Somers
Rod Turner (Ian McShane) is Yesterday’s Hero, a former big soccer star and womanizer drinking his way to the end of his career. The pop star owner of the third division Saints signs him for the semi-final game of the League Cup over the protestations of the team Manager.
-
‘The Soccer Nanny’ (2011) a little too coy for today
In The Soccer Nanny, a recently widowed mother (ex-pornstar Traci Lords) hires a male au pair from Norway to provide a role model for her 9 and 16 year old sons while she runs the family’s bison farm in the “Little Sweden” town of Lindsborg, Kansas.
-
Review: ‘Rise & Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story’ (2011)
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.
-
‘Hermano’ (2010) a dark tale in a Venezuelan barrio
Hermano (aka Brother) is the story of teenage brothers who are unbeatable together on the soccer field and have a chance to tryout for the local pro team.
-
‘Soccer City’ (2010) lacks passion for the game
Nick Fitzhugh went to South Africa during World Cup 2010 and filmed Soccer City, ostensibly about the impact of soccer on South African culture. He interviewed and followed the lives of various youth players and former National Team members.
-
‘Her Best Move’ (2007) tale from a soccer dad
Family friendly, Her Best Move rises above the other teen/kid soccer movies in the authenticity of the players and the story. The film accurately portrays the trade-offs and stresses on soccer prodigies as well as their families and coaches.
-
Hard to care about this ‘Coach’ (2010)
Coach is a straight-to-DVD film by first-time-feature Writer-Director Will Frears. Hugh Dancy is a slacker and soccer bum in New York City. He doesn’t need to work, but he finds romance and purpose when he takes a job coaching middle school kids to the league championship.
-
‘Vasermil’ (2007) an Israeli downer
Writer-director Mushon Salmona conceived the idea for his first feature film Vasermil after making a documentary about the marginal lives of teenagers in his hometown of Beer-Sheva, in southern Israel. The three boys in this story all come from broken homes and have to grow up quickly, although they are ill-prepared to do so.
-
‘The Other Half’ (2006) one long joke
The Other Half is a long drawn-out joke. An England fan plans a honeymoon in Portugal so that he can sneak off to England’s three Euro 2004 games. The complication is that his American wife doesn’t even know he’s a soccer fan, and her father has paid for the honeymoon.
-
Understanding the ‘Lesbians of Buenos Aires’ (2004)
Lesbianas de Buenos Aires is not really a soccer movie. Neither is it a movie that Howard Sterns would salivate over. It is a documentary of interviews of several unrelated 30ish lesbians.
