Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006) Movie Information:

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006) Directed by: Douglas Gordon, Philippe Parreno Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006) Written by: Not available at this time Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006) Cast: Not available at this time

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006) U.S. Distributor: Not available at this time Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006) U.K. Distributor: Not available at this time

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Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006) Synopsis:

Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006) Movie Review:

Less a documentary than an impressionistic painting, this mesmerising film takes an unusual look at football, centring on one player over the course of one match. It's beautifully filmed and cleverly edited, and it casts the sport--and the man--in a whole new light.

The match in question is Real Madrid vs Villareal on 23 April 2005, but the camera sticks right with Zidane, isolating details both visually and in the sound mix. We're only tangentially aware of the score, and we have no idea what else is happening on the pitch beyond occasional glimpses of the TV coverage. During half time we take a brief look at what else was happening around the world on that specific day.

Sure, just watching a man walk, run, glower and occasionally kick a soccer ball for 90 minutes is a little dull. But the film is so lyrical and intriguing that we wish we could watch every match this way. We may miss the grand drama, but this film allows us to experience the roar of the stadium crowd in an all-new way. And as we watch one of the world's top players, we get as close as we ever will to feeling what it must be like to be out there.

Darius Khondji's cinematography is wonderfully textured and visceral, catching the smallest details--a drop of sweat, a twitching finger--from every angle. While Mogwai's musical score adds a wonderfully moody undercurrent. There's no voiceover, just some indistinct Spanish commentary and a few subtitles featuring Zidane's reminiscences.

The film's not really about football at all; it's an intriguingly simple and powerfully focussed portrait of a man doing his job. As it progresses we don't necessarily feel like we know Zidane any better, but we do begin to understand a sense of the attitude and inner fire required to be a sportsman at this level. Especially when there's a hugely crowd-pleasing goal. Or a private joke shared between two men while thousands of people look on. Or a long, lonely walk off the pitch.

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Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006) review written by: Rich Cline