Sound and Fury

I went to the Cornerhouse with Kev last night to see Zidane:A 21st Century Portrait and came away thinking that either the close camerawork and editing can't do a player justice or that Zizou is even lazier and one-footed than I imagined. The choice of subject is odd, as Zidane is probably one of the quietest and unanimated professionals in the game today; if the sound track is to be believed he limits himself to a few shouts for the ball and the occasional smile (when Bobby Carlos cracks a funny, probably something about using his left foot more often), until he finally gives full rein to his emotions and runs twenty yards to twat an opponent. If anything the film highlights how detatched he is from his team mates and his frustration at not being involved, which is his own fault for not getting stuck in. In one of the rare subtitled comments from the man himself (I thought there would be more of his philosophy and possibly in voiceover), he refers to the pitch as "the green square"! Well, Zou, it'd be a rectangle if you bothered to tackle back!

I must say I did enjoy watching a footy match from these new angles, but I wouldn't want to watch a live game in this way; the only problem I had with the film was the sound design (which Kev thought was excellent, fool), because they seemed to have dubbed the thwack of boot on ball to every pass and shot whether it was a gently rolled free-kick or mindless hump upfield, and they could pick up the noise of footfall of every player, apparently.

Still, it's worth seeing if just to piss off Mark Kermode by keeping it in his cinema for a few weeks.