Given that we're actually due some sunshine this weekend, we have our doubts that attending a film festival will be at the top of many people's lists. Especially when they learn that all the films being shown are about FOOTBALL. For most, the only cinematic football offering that approaches anywhere near an acceptable level of quality (and then only in an ironic 'this is shit but in a good way' fashion) might be 'Escape to Victory' - "hey, we can still win this you know" etc etc etc. So many other efforts have been so cack, including the latest big-budget nonsense, the risible 'Goal', that commentators have been forced to mention Kes in their hacked-toghether lists of best ever football films, soley because it has a small scene where Brian Glover pretends to be Bobby Charlton....we despair, we really do, it's about a frickin' BIRD for pity's sake. And 'Gregory's Girl' - that was about a geek trying to get hold of a fit (in an eighties way) Scottish girl. And it had Clare Grogan in it. She's lovely.
And yet, and yet..perhaps it is worth seeing if there's some good stuff out there after all. We're football mad, we don't tan, so we're more than happy to ignore the sunshine and head out to the Curzon Soho (one of our favourite cinemas) to check out Kicks n Flicks - the London International Football Film Festival.
The Festival begins this evening with the screening of two documentaries about the 1966 World Cup, which we both understand to be excellent. The first is 'Goal!' which tells the story of the tournament through glorious technicolour footage, giving you a sense of England as the brightest and most wondrous land in the world, presided over by a beautiful Queen in yellow, happy people waving flags, unicorns, Nobby Stiles, enchanted forests and a handsome prince named Bobby Moore. The second is 'The Game of Their Lives' which concentrates on North Korea's shock defeat over Italy. According to the website, this is a 'highly entertaining story of the pint-sized giant killers'. Ho ho ho! Those funny little yellow chaps eh? Nice choice of words. Not.
Londonist will be attending the Festival tomorrow where we shall be checking out 'Maradona Kicking the Habit' and 'Beckham and the Battle with Argentina' at 10.30am, hanging around to watch the screening of England's friendly against Jamaica (we'll be wearing a white shirt with the number '7' on the back, if you approach me and say the magic password - 'Crouchasaurus bestrides the globe like a giant' - you'll be bought a pint) and then admiring the long shorts and moustaches on show in 'Mitchell & Kenyon: The World of Edwardian Football'. All the while ignoring the 'Pro-Evolution Soccer Tournament' taking place, which sounds hideously boring.
On Sunday we'd advise against attending 'There's Only One Jimmy Grimble' and instead concentrate on 'Rwanda FC' and 'Escobar’s Own Goal', which sound much more interesting. The Festival continues on till Thursday, but by that point we'll be concentrating solely on collecting swapsies for our Panini World Cup sticker album.
It all looks very promising but in truth, we're much more excited about watching Douglas Gordon's 'Zidane , un portrait du XXIe siècle' which sounds like it is going to rock very hard indeed. Enjoy your weekend.
