Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait [2006]

See Larger Image	List Price: £19.99 Our Price: £5.48 Availability: Usually dispatched within 9 to 14 days Manufacturer: Artificial Eye Starring: Zinédine Zidane Directed By: Douglas Gordon, Philippe Parreno Average Customer Rating:


Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Audience Rating: Parental Guidance Binding: DVD EAN: 5021866332307 Format: Anamorphic Label: Artificial Eye Manufacturer: Artificial Eye Number Of Items: 1 Publisher: Artificial Eye Region Code: 2 Release Date: 2007-01-29 Running Time: 97 Studio: Artificial Eye Theatrical Release Date: 2006-09-29
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Editorial Reviews: An intriguing premise for a full-length feature, the idea behind Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait is simple. Back in April of 2005, Real Madrid--replete with Zinedine Zidane, arguably the world’s finest footballer at the time--played Villareal in the Spanish league. At that game, seventeen cameras were all trained on Zidane. The film? At heart, it’s 90 minutes of following the great man around a football field. Yet it’s fascinating. Really. Save for the odd subtitled comment, and a not-entirely-comfortable compilation of the day’s news that’s interspersed at half time, the focus is purely one man playing a game of football. It’s not a raging success by any means, and there are moments in Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait where the interest level significantly drops. Yet when it works, it really works astoundingly well, and you’d be hard-pushed to find any other film that does anything even vaguely similar. It’s backed, it should be noted, with excellent supporting music too. The 2006 World Cup, of course, gave Zidane’s career an ending it never really deserved. And while Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait isn’t a dish that everyone’s going to warm to, those that do will surely be left reflecting on one of football’s greatest geniuses, rather than one mad moment in Germany.--Simon Brew
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Awful. Truly awful. Comment: Any attempt to combine football with art is destined for failure. This is no exception. It is pathetic and I hope everyone connected with the project is ashmaed at themselves. Especially Zidane. Customer Rating: Summary: The greatest film about football ever made, NOT ! Comment: To say I was disappointed by this is an understatement. The idea sounded great and having heard the music in a shop I was even more interested in seeing it. But close ups of Zidane kicking his heels about sums it up. It lost all the pace and excitment that football is about and didn't even fill in the gaps in story of the game. They no doult were edited out in the name of 'art' along with some of Mogwai's music. So one star for the original idea (I did liked the camera shot moving through the empty corridors and stairways, up and into the stadium arena) and one for the music, which was memorable, if a little sparce. Customer Rating: Summary: Zidane flops Comment: Undoubtedly one of the true greats of football a player who could turn a match, light up the stadium with a touch of magic or a trick. Why then make a film which follows the player in close up when he is definitely past his best imminently retiring from football showing his bald pate, expressionless sunken eyes, sweaty face, grunting managing only a few tricks in his own half unable to run past defenders in a meaningful position playing in probably the slowest league drawing fouls, diving. I would rather watch this if the dvd was renamed Christiano Ronaldo a player who recently scored a hatrick and a fantatastic freekick and I am not even a Man U fan but he is a player who all fans like to watch someone whom you know you can't take your eyes off because you don't know what he will do next capable of scoring goals most strikers would only dream of.......Could only manage 16 mins then fast forward through the rest to the last few mins...... I think this shows what a nightmare being the manager must have been with so many untouchables Beckham, Raul, Roberto Carlos, Ronaldo, all great players but long past their prime thankfully most have been swept out; it ain't good to overstay your welcome at a party. I only gave 1 star for the music by Mogwai at the beginning of the film. Customer Rating: Summary: 4/10. Less interesting than watching 90 minutes of an inconsequential end of season La Liga match Comment: As a football supporter and a fan of daring and original cinema I was genuinely excited at the prospect of Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno's 21st Century Portrait of Zinedine Zidane. With 17 cameras trained on the great French midfielder, I was expecting a truly revealing insight into the mind of a professional sportsmen - at least that's what the filmmakers have sold this film as. Instead we only see what we already know footballers do: sweat and spit alot, harry opponents, foul, dribble and snipe at the ref. In terms of sporting insight we certainly understand less about Zidane's famed footballing intelligence than we would be watching the game on television. By focusing on the player only, we can't see how his contribution affects the game globally, what marks him out a master tactician. The filmmakers seem to have gambled on Zidane's iconic, brooding look on carrying the film alone, buoyed by some moody incidental music by Scottish post rockers Mogwai. But the dirge-like score is less interesting than the sound of the crowds watching the game, that have seemingly been mixed with more thought than the images themselves. We are treated to a few of Zidane's words - albeit in subtitle only - in specific reference to the ways that the noise from the spectators permeates the player's consciousness. More insight like this might have raised this experiment above the mundane, but unfortunately such pearls of wisom are in a distinct minority. In all, this is exceptionally tedious. Less interesting, in fact, than watching the full 90 minutes of an inconsequential end of season La Liga match - which this was. Customer Rating: Summary: Is this a joke? Comment: I have never viewed such total nonsense in all my life. This can't be called a film? I class this as the most boring video ever. More Reviews