rgaster-42928 huge fan of both football and Zidane. this film served neither - pretentious crap that provided exactly zero information about Zidane's role in the game being filmed. an auteur project by a couple of artists who seemed like they had never seen a football match or used a camera.endless shots of the same handful of plays, long shots of Zindane standing and watching. closeups that just induced motion sickness. there is absolutely room for a great movie explaining a single game from the perspective of a great player. unfortunately, this is the opposite - using a great player for purposes that are entirely inscrutable even after the end of the movie.

Tim This film is a conceptual sports documentary consisting of an entire full-length soccer game in which 17 cameras are focused on the star player, Zinedine Zidane. This minimalistic approach might not be so appealing to the sports fan, but the film manages to slowly reveal the effortless poetry of Zidane's art while still keeping the viewer interested with incredibly well photographed images and great editing. When Zidane is away from the ball, simply trotting across the field or digging his cleats into the grass to the tune of a hypnotic soundtrack by the post-rock band Mogwai, the viewer is compelled to contemplate the atmosphere, the language of movement, the empty spaces of the game. Occasionally excerpts of interviews with Zidane reflecting on the sport or his childhood flash across the screen in subtitles, but the film is for the most part absent of dialogue. What remains is a unique minimalist portrait of one of our greatest sports stars, a testament to how an experimental documentary film can turn an event as common as a soccer game into conceptual art.

Boba_Fett1138 Just like every football fan, I have to say that Zinédine Zidane really was one of the best players of this and the last century. I would often watch a France game, purely because of Zidane and I wanted to see him do his magic. Even if the game wasn't very good and the team wasn't playing very well, Zidane would always show something special and amazing. His skill and touch was always amazing. Whenever he had the ball if was something special and you just knew something great could happen at any given moment. He doesn't look and move like a very technical player but he really was one of the most technical midfielder of the last few decades. He had a great and impressive but also very successful career, especially with his national team. Every world cup or European cup he participated in, he was one of the best players of the tournament and he won both the World- and European Cup with his country France. He played an important role in his country victories and eventual win of the tournaments, with his two goals in the 1998 finale against Brazil of course as his most memorable achievement. No way that a dumb head-but against Marco Materazzi in the 110th minute of the 2006 World Cup final against Italy, which also was his last game out of his career, should overshadow this great sportsman's career.But as much as I adore Zidane as a player he really isn't a charismatic person or player to watch. His face doesn't ever show any emotions, which sorts of makes you wonder why the film-makers he was such a good subject for this cinematic movie-making approach. After about 30 minutes you've already had it with watching this movie. Most of the time he doesn't even run, he just walks and stands because obviously he isn't on the ball all of the time. After a while the approach of the movie becomes a real bore to watch.It doesn't show anything of Zidane as a person and it also most certainly doesn't show anything of Zidane's qualities as a football player. Therefor what's the point of this 'documentary'? This movie only serves an artistic purpose. Although this also doesn't completely work out due to the subject Zidane. So it's a sort of vicious circle. The approach of the documentary doesn't really work out due to Zidane and Zidane isn't presented in his best or most insightful way due to the approach of the documentary. It doesn't do much credit to the exceptional great player Zidane was. On top of the, the approach from this documentary isn't even original. It was used before by German filmmaker Hellmuth Costard, for his documentary "Fußball wie noch nie", following Manchester United player George Best in real time, during a complete football match.What was highly annoying to me was that most of the sounds were obviously put at a later stage underneath the movie. Some, if not all, sounds were obviously fabricated and recorded in a studio, even Zidane's own breathing and on pitch talking. Unless you believe he was really wearing a microphone during the match...The chanting the running on the grass, the kicking of the ball, all off these sounds sound so completely fabricated. It's like listening to a radio play at times.Some of the trivial facts presented in this movie are really ridicules and don't serve a point at all, also not in the least because they have absolutely nothing to do with the subject of the movie.If you want to see the qualities of a player you don't point several camera's just on his face. He should see a wider picture to get a clear view and understanding of his positioning, his passing, his control, his overview, knowing exactly the positions of your teammates and opponents, knowing when to give the right ball. After all, football is still a team sport, no matter how great as an individual you are. The game they follow him also isn't much special. It's just an average Primera Division game of Zidane's Real Madrid against Villareal, in which Zidane even gets send off with a red card before the end of the match. Also sorts of makes you wonder if the makers regret picking this one game to follow him.Has some artistic value but overall really doesn't do enough credit to Zizou.4/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Cool Hand Luke Whilst I would not recommend this film to many people I still feel that what it has to offer on a purely technical level is more than many, many films out there.Let's start with the cinematography. In charge of the look is Darius Khondji, a DOP who I feel ranks as one of the greatest of all time. His painstaking attention to detail and often uncompromising perfectionism heightened my curiosity with this film because he would have had no control over the lighting. Which is a challenge for someone who usually has every lighting rig available at his disposal. His choices were limited to equipment and film stock, as well as the angles chosen to focus on Zidane. The result is beautiful. The colours, the framing, the movement. It is impeccable and compliments the concept of the film perfectly.Then there is the sound and music. To say this is an immersive experience is an understatement. The diegetic sound and Foley work is so vivid that you feel part of the action. It is as close to being in a stadium such as the Bernabeu without actually being there. You hear Zidane every now and again ask for the ball, call a player, mention something to the referee. And as Zidane is so quiet, when he does utter a word for some reason you are compelled. When the ref makes a howler of a decision to give the opposition a penalty he eloquently says; "You should be ashamed." It's a wonderful moment, and it is these few seconds of drama that are sprinkled throughout the 90 minutes that keep you watching.Mogwai's score is as beautiful as everyone has said, supporting the images and saving periods of the game where little is happening.But the centrepiece is Zidane himself. I was born in 1983 so never got to watch Platini, Pele, Best or Cruijff. I would not dare call anyone the greatest player of all time because it is such a subjective and immeasurable claim to make. But having watched football for so long, I would have no hesitation in regarding Zidane as the greatest player I have ever seen. His vision, skill, control, strength. No player of his generation has ever come close to him. I have never seen someone so relaxed on the ball. He could beat any player, and more to the point would see passes no one else on the pitch would see. And when you consider his achievements, the World Cups, the goals (in World Cup and CHampions League finals) the infamous dismissals. Hell, he has seen and done it all.So in this game, even at the end of his playing career, he is still beating players, setting up goals, and not once did he miscontrol the ball. Which is astounding. Every ball played to him, along on the ground or in the air, whether it was perfectly weighted or dished out to him too hard and a few yards away was controlled with such deftness. I couldn't actually believe it at times.A number of Real Madrid players were under immense scrutiny during this period in the club's history. The Galacticos (Carlos, Beckham, Raul, Ronaldo and Zidane) were not winning any trophies and the press were quick to point out their waning powers. The performances were lacklustre and many questioned their passion having won all there is to win in football. Yet in this performance all I saw was Zidane running constantly, challenging for headers, being incredibly disciplined with his tackles and positioning, ordering players to mark, constantly asking for the ball. He may not have had the pace to beat players like he once did at Juventus and his early Madrid days, but when there was space to exploit he took the opportunity.I agree there are dull moments, but it is the nature of the beast. I think it speaks wonders that in a relatively low profile game with average passages of football Zidane can still keep you intrigued. From the way he drags the tip of his right foot along the ground as he walks to the way he looks around for other players he remains compelling viewing. There are few, if any other players who could have achieved this.The highlight for me came towards the end of the game. For well over an hour you saw the same stern, emotionless face on Zidane. He barely reacted to being fouled, or conceding a goal, setting up a goal. But then Roberto Carlos smiled at him and made a joke that made Zidane's face light up with such a beautiful smile. It is the most endearing moment in the film that could only be captured off the wall. It is so natural and revealing that it endears you. It is a lesson to all footballers. No matter what the stakes are in football the most important thing to remember is to enjoy yourself. It is just a game after all. And with this portrait of a magician, you realise just how beautiful it can be.