Hope for British cinema

After four years, Chris (Mays, ATONEMENT) returns to his hometown, ostensibly to attend a party. But his real motive is to catch up with his old buddy, Shifty (Ahmed, THE ROAD TO GUANTANAMO). While away, Chris has settled into responsible adult life and he is shocked to discover that Shifty has started dealing in hard drugs, supplied by the untrustworthy Glen (Flemyng, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON).

Although happy to see Chris, Shifty hasn’t fully forgiven him for leaving in the first place, and we soon learn that the circumstances under which Chris left are more complicated than they first appeared. They spend 24 hours together, with Chris watching Shifty as he deals to a variety of increasingly desperate customers. Over the course of this day they are forced to confront the ghosts from the past and the hopeless and dangerous present that Shifty finds himself in. Rediscovering their friendship, Chris is given an opportunity to prove his loyalty and to save Shifty from himself.
Made for £100,000 in 18 days under a Film London initiative (‘Microwave’), Shifty is the astonishing debut feature from writer/director Eran Creevy.
Like its protagonists, it may look strapped for cash, but there’s not much in the script, direction, acting or editing to betray its low-budget origins.
Based on Creevy’s teenage experiences. Shifty is a fantastic example of a film that manages to do a great deal with very little, an energetic and engaged slice of social realism, that avoids the clichés that might be associated with the genre.
The continuing renaissance in low-budget British cinema.

CHRIST'S LAST DAY ATTO II

Diving Bells and Oil Paintings
Why Julian Schnabel’s film and visual art has encouraged people to find a way to into our interior life since the 80’s.

Julian Schnabel, one of the most well known and controversial artists of the New York art scene in the 1980s and 1990s, came to prominence as a sculptor and painter of recognizable objects overflowing with raw energy, and emotion on oversized canvases and surfaces of unusual materials, such as velvet and animal hides or broken ceramics. But, it’s his work in film later in his career that keeps critics talking.

Julian was born on October 26th, 1951 in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Brownsville, TX. In fact, it was in the lone star state where he studied at the University of Texas in Houston from 1969 to 1973. He moved back to New York after earning his BFA and by 1975, he was being noticed by the Contemporary Art Museum. Frequent trips to Europe exposed him to the work of such unique artists as architect Antoni Gaudi and performance artist and sculptor Joseph Beuys, whose influence shaped Schnabel’s work and expanded his artistic horizons.

After his 1979 debut solo show in New York at the Mary Boone gallery, Julian came to prominence in the eighties as a leading figure in what came to be known as 'neo-expressionism'. He quickly found himself at the center of the growing movement but separated himself from the current scene with sleeker, more minimalist creations.

After decades, minimalism and conceptual art had completely eclipsed traditional painting and Julian Schnabel's work, which often displays romantic or heroic content, was seen as emotive and subjective. Julian’s work reflected his personality, which could be easily described as larger-than-life.

His interests expanded to film in the late nineties with Basquiat (1996), a biopic of his late friend, the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, who had died from a heroin overdose in 1988. Jeffrey Wright interpreted Jean-Michel Basquiat, while David Bowie played Andy Warhol and Gary Oldman was Albert Milo. Julian Schnabel played himself in the film. Julian also recreated Basquiat’s art work for the film, due to the refusal of the late artist’s estate to give permission to use his original paintings. Basquiat was released in 1996 to mixed reviews. Many found Julian Schnabel indulging himself, while others viewed it favorably as a fair portrayal of the scene and the pressures, the artists endured in this era.

After Basquiat, Schnabel’s talent behind the camera took over. He received positive reviews for Before Night Falls, a challenging biopic based on the life of gay Cuban author, Reinaldo Arenas, whose writing and lifestyle earned him severe punishment at the hands of the Communist government. Acclaimed Spanish actor Javier Bardem, later known for his role in No Country for Old Men, played Reinaldo Arenas. Critics and audiences responded favorably to the film, which won several major awards at the Venice Film Festival in 2000, including the Grand Special Jury Prize.

In 2007, Julian returned to directing with another independent-minded project, the extremely moving The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. The project received the best reviews of Schnabel’s film career, with many major critics placing it at the top of their year-in-review lists. Julian Schnabel earned Best Director awards from American and international film societies and critical groups, as well as the 2008 Golden Globe, including the trophy at Cannes 2007.

The film is unpredictable and chaotic. Flowing images reflect Julian’s paintings. The fact that it is in French, with subtitles, hardly gets in its way, because its real language is visual, creating an effect of unity. Julian Schnabel’s father, Jack died of cancer in 2004 at the age of 92, and lived with his son for the last year of his life. The film can be seen as a touching tribute to his father because he leaned heavily on the experience while making The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. In one scene, Jean-Dominique Bauby’s children play ball on the Normandy beach as he sits mute in a wheelchair, his face as a Cubist mask. Another scene finds him on a visit to his own invalid father, in which the younger shaved the older, as the older tells him of his failed marriage.

Schnabel’s art career continued during this period. He identified himself primarily as a painter who also directed films, with his work receiving regular showcases in galleries and museums around the world. Julian showed a body of work created from early 20th century hospital x-rays that he found in an abandoned house in Berk-sur-Mer. There is no differentiation between the paintings and the films because one informs the other in an œuvre that tenderly combines strands of bravura and insight into our humanness.

Since the artist's first sensational exhibition in New York in the early 1980s, Julian Schnabel's work has been celebrated enthusiastically as a new culmination of painting, a genre that had long been declared dead. Both his "Plate Paintings" based on porcelain shards and his highly expressive large-format oil paintings have found their way into most if not all important international collections.

Schnabel believed art is not leisure; art is a utilitarian thing that people can use to find a way into their interior life. A glance at one of his films or one his paintings serves as proof he found his way into his interior life and is just trying to show us a way into ours.

-Laure Brosson-

Nouvelle Vague!

In Search of a Midnight Kiss is an award-winning American independent comedy/romance written and directed by Alex Holdridge. Produced by Anne Walker, (Before Sunrise, Dazed and Confused)
It stars Scoot McNairy (Art School Confidential, Six Feet Under) and Sara Simmonds (Echoes of Innocence).

The film is set in 24 hours, where Wilson (Scoot McNairy), a twenty-nine-year old guy who has just had the worst year of his life, is new to Los Angeles, has no date, no plans and every intention of locking the doors and forgetting the last year ever happened. That is until his best friend, Jacob (Brian McGuire), pushed him posting a personal ad on Craig's List. When Vivian (Sara Simmonds), a persistent hellish young woman, on a mission to find the right guy at the stroke of midnight responds, a chaotic, sometimes hilarious, sometimes moving journey through the black and white streets of L.A. begins.

With sharp and funny dialogue, and beautiful shots, fans of Before Sunrise/ Before Sunset will love In Search of a Midnight Kiss. When the two embark on a spiritual and emotional odyssey. Bonding through the act of conversation. When perfect strangers connect so intimately over the course of a single day.

Monochrome, a Nouvelle Vague version of Los Angeles, In the Search of a Midnight Kiss is a very enjoyable experience, the low budget made it a tight production. More importantly it gives hope to film makers who have a low small budget.

Referring to the French New Wave ,a group of French film-makers between the years 1958 to 1964. François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, Jacques Rivette and Eric Rohmer. Changed notions of how a film could be made, driven by a desire to forge a new cinema, with characters often marginalized, young anti-heroes and loners, with no family ties, who behave spontaneously.
The French New Wave directors took advantage of the new technology that was available to them in the late 1950s, working on location rather than in studio. Quickly and cheaply shot with portable and flexible equipment, encouraged experimentation and improvisation, generating more artistic freedom, giving films a casual and natural look. Available light was preferred to studio-style lighting and available sound was preferred to extensive studio dubbing. In A Bout de Souffle by Jean-Luc Godard (1959), the cinematographer Raoul Coutard, who worked on many of the French New Wave films, was pushed around in a wheelchair, following the characters down the street and into buildings.
French New Wave cinema was a personal cinema. The film-makers were writers who were skillful at examining relationships and telling humane stories.
In Search of a Midnight Kiss, as in the French New Wave, the actors are charismatic and talented, and yet they're always believable as human, all too human – beings.

Many contemporary filmmakers, including Quentin Tarentino, and Wes Anderson, claim influence from the New Wave. Quentin Tarantino dedicated Reservoir Dogs to Jean-Luc Godard and named his production company A Band Apart, a play on words of the Godard film Bande a Part. Additionally, Wes Anderson's wry comedies are known to carry influence from the French New Wave; for example, the opening scenes of The Royal Tennenbaums closely mimic the style and cinematography used in the opening scene of Agnes Varda's Cleo from 5 to 7.

It seems like The French New Wave never left the scene, In Search of a Midnight Kiss gives us a modern indie version,
looks as if it's shot on the cheapest camera on the market, and yet it also feels magical when a witty, neurotic man and woman walking around a city, exchanging frank theories of love and life.
This film got more audience reaction than I've seen for a long time.
Recommended for those with big hearts.



-Laure Brosson-
Published in www.artnouveaumagazine.com

The Strangers

The Strangers is one of those rare horror movies that concentrates on suspense and terror rather than on gore and a high body count. It isn't a splatter movie, in which there are usually a large amount of dispensable protagonists, who are all shriveled, but one or two survive. This movie focuses on just two characters who don't survive, and the whole action involves showing them being really, really scared.

Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman star as Kristen McKay and James Hoyt, a young couple on their way to the Hoyt family summer home after attending a friend's wedding. There is an aura of sadness around the couple as they arrive home to find everything set up for a romantic evening with rose petals spread in the house. However, a flashback revealed that a failed proposal was the reason for the sadness. As the troubled couple talk prior to reconciling, a loud knock at the door shatters their peace and begins a long night of terror.
The couple hide in the house with James' father's shotgun and try and defend themselves against their inexplicable tormentors, whose faces are concealed by freaky masks, a sack (Kip Weeks), a doll (Gemma Ward) and a pin-up girl (Laura Margolis).

Suspenseful and invested in silence, Bryan Bertino’s debut feature gives us a creepy atmospheric thriller with a death grip on the psychological aspect.
The Strangers closely follows the off-screen violence and the idea of being terrorized in your own home seen earlier this year in Funny Games, by Michael Haneke, except that in that movie the audience sees the torturers’ faces and understands to some degree the motives behind such brutal and inhumane acts. In The Strangers, the only motive behind the torture is that the people “were home”. No twists and no surprises, which could have been read in our local newspaper, that’s for why The Strangers is so scary, frightening facts did happen, and does happen. « According to the FBI, there are an estimated 1.4 million violent crimes in America each year ».

Both Scott Speedman and Liv Tyler deliver solid performances as a couple caught at the most fragile moment in their relationship. Liv Tyler has the perfect scream to get you shaking in your seat.

We've see all of this before, unlikely The Strangers is not about plot or character development, this is a movie about chills and atmosphere.
Writer-director Bryan Bertino reminds you how care with camera placement and ambient sound can sustain these cat-and-mouse games.
The house/set design does create the perfect atmosphere for the invasion to take place, with muted colors and a shadowy hallway providing just the right backdrop for the action to unfold.

Unfortunately, the cat and mouse game goes on too long and the tension dies a little, it's just a pity that it goes on for a further 20 minutes, then the director lets down the audience by finishing up the film with a disappointing final scene. The build up over the course of the movie is slightly deflated by an ending that doesn't match the rest of the film.

Bryan Bertino, with his first movie, shows the skills to be a promising director, in spite of redundant length, he has delivered a good-looking, sophisticated exercise in scares.


-Laure Brosson-

Cannes in a Van!

The guerrilla cinema project that does exactly what it says on the tin ran for the second time this year at Cannes and has plans to go international
Text by Laure Brosson | Published in www.dazeddigital.com
26 August 2008


Right from the back of their van, they screen movies from all over the world, The smallest mobile film festival in the world is back from the Cannes Film Festival 2008, and now travel accross UK.
Andy Greenhouse, one of the founder of Cannes in a Van is talking to Dazed Digital, giving us hope for more audacious happenings.

-When did you start Cannes in a Van? Where did the concept came from?
It came from a drunken conversation at a wedding with my mate, Simon Harris. I've held a number of film nights in London before at The 100 Club and ran a short film podcast called ShallowShorts100. It seemed like a great idea to take some of those films down to the Cannes Film Festival and screen them from the back of a van. Cannes in a Van (The world's smallest mobile film festival / Perfect Vehicle for Independent Film) was the next step. We first went last year - 2007, so 2008 was only the second year. I intend on taking the van back to Cannes every year from now onwards.

-I know you are a few people involve in Cannes in a Van, could you tell us about you?
In 2007 it was me, Simon and a young journalist named Jamie, who wrote a blog. In May '08 Simon and Jamie couldn't commit, so I needed two new recruits. I ended up with 3 - Cath (an ex film student), Stuart (an underwater filmmaker who lives in Thailand) and Janus (a 60 year old Danish straight-talking film director/producer).

-Why Cannes, and not an other festival?
Because of the name of course! It rhymes. Seriously though, the contrast between the glitz and glamour of Cannes in festival swing and a rusty old yellow Transit van screening independent film seemed like a good reason. The festival celebrates cinema from all over the world, but lately, the festival has become soaked up in its own hype to an extent. I do love the craziness of it however, and it's a chance to screen independent British film to a truly international audience of influential movie people.

-What is your film selections? And how is the audience reaction?
Films are submitted directly to Cannes in a Van via the website: www.cannesinavan.com. Selections also come from various festivals and external sources such as Rushes Soho Shorts, Birds-Eye-View Film Festival and Channel 4's 3 Minute-Wonders.
The audience reaction is appreciative. They seem to like the guerrilla spirit of the van and our approach to the festival. They stop and watch in the middle of the street, normally with a smile on their face.

- The cinema is perceived as entertainment in a lot of countries, United States, UK... and cultural in France. Do you see yourself as entertainers? Or more in a cultural way?
Cannes in a Van is definitely somewhere in the middle. First and foremost it's entertainment – we screen a huge variety of films from all genres. It's also cultural in the sense that in this age where everything is all about the next technology, the smallest, the most memory, the sharpest image – we are going the other way, taking it back to basics. We simply screen films to the public from a big yellow van. The picture's not perfect, the sound is sometimes distorted, but the experience is unique.

-And what is your view on the British film industry?
The British film industry is hopefully on the up. There are a lot of people doing exciting things when you look outside of the big multiplex cinemas. Independent talent is booming because films have become cheap and easy to produce but funding is still largely from government schemes and a handful of familiar bodies. We will never have a huge industry like the US, but I think filmmakers are looking for alternative methods of funding their work. There's an organisation called The Movie Mogul Fund in Britain which encourages financial and creative involvement from filmmakers in a form of a 'shares' scheme. It will hopefully result in some great features and shorts produced outside the usual system.

-How does that work, with a Van, a mobile festival, i read you don't have any permission to show film, no licence, How do you manage that? A little risky for the sake of cinema!
I think the police go easy on us because we're not pedalling our own stuff. We're not promoting a product, we don't charge people to watch and I think they kinda like it. It's all in the spirit of guerrilla cinema so it would be wrong to have a license for it I guess!

-Do you get any sponsor? Despite the fact, you are clandestine projectionist.
I couldn't do it without sponsors. In 2007 we put most of the money up ourselves, but on the website, had an option to 'buy parts' of the van. This meant a person or company could buy a steering wheel for £75 and would get a logo on the van.
This year we had further support from Dailymotion, Final Draft, ShallowDesign and MovieScope magazine.

-Where can we see Cannes in a Van apart from Cannes? As a mobile festival, you could be anywhere!
We just played the Secret Garden Party in a field near Cambridge and have a few screenings lined up in London. In the coming year Cannes in a Van will become part of The (Untitled) Film Festival and continue screening in new and unusual environments. We're always into new ideas.

-How do you promote yourself as your notoriety has gone bigger.
We use film networking sites like Shooting People and Talent Circle, aswell as traditional press and media if they'll have us! If people like what we do, they can go to www.cannesinavan.com or email twoblokes@cannesinavan.com.

-What is the future for Cannes in a Van?
There's talk of a Cannes in a Van world tour – taking hundreds of international films around the world to the remotest of places and screening them. We'll need a serious sponsor naturally and maybe a TV deal... but it's something I'd like to make happen. It would be nice to rock the van up at Sundance on a brisk winter morning!
Then of course there's our future Cannes trips. We'll be there as long as the sun shines, bringing independent film to the masses on the Croisette. Look out for a big yellow van showing films and chances are - that's probably us.



-Laure Brosson-

YOU KNOW WHAT…HERE IT IS IN FULL…

Yes, here is the full interview that I did for DAZED DIGITAL, & I think this does Laure credit, as her questions were pretty good...& you know me, I love to give a long answer...enjoy, i think it is better.

DAZED DIGITAL INTERVIEW IN FULL - Q's : Laure Brosson & A's : by me.

Did your upbringing in any way influence your decision to become involved in fashion?

That would have to be a yes. My Parents were in ‘the business’, wait they still are in the business. They never stop. But in answer to your question, yes. My mother, Jubilee was probably the biggest influence. She was a face about town in the late 60’s early 70’s & hung out with all the players. She was good friends with Ossie Clarke, Barbara Hulanicki (Biba)...& mad Tommy Roberts (Mr Freedom) to name a few, she knew everyone. So I was always surrounded by these creative people & being carried around Gt Titchfield Street, which is where we lived...smack bang in the middle of the Garment Industry. We then moved to Pakistan in 1973, where she & my dad Marty opened a factory.
A nice Muslim Indian/EastAfrican Woman & A nice Jewish Boy from Brooklyn & 2 kids...who says that peace process does not work. My 1st design experience came when I was about 7. I was really into Cowboys & Indians...& I loved the way that the gunslinger always wore one glove on his shooting hand. Well I remember tracing my hand over a bit of jersey & giving it to one of the sample machinists to cut the 2 sides & sew it for me. I had my own glove. My 1st Pattern Cutting & Design experience.
But to go back to the question, I always wanted to be a Photographer, but while at St Martins, I worked for my parents 3 days a week. I did everything from sweeping to window display, & in the end I felt I had a knack for the fashion business...dropped out of school & went into the business full time.

How did you progress in so many areas in the industry?

Luck & the Desire for the Know How. I wanted to have an answer to all the questions. If some one said your pattern is wrong, I wanted to be in a position to explain myself. I wanted a knowledge of the whole business, so I could see a problem & solve it. I believe you can never know everything & you should learn something new everyday not matter how trivial, & that is what drove me to try and learn as much about the Fashion Business & still learn more on every level.
Through that drive, I made the choices of what I did & who I worked for to gain new knowledge & experience. 23 years later I still feel the same & feel that there is always more to know & experience...still have that Desire...still feel 19 ha ha hah...

From your company Factor of 3, a production base, to What When and Now, a consultancy company, how did you work the transition?

Before Fof3 I was working for lots of different companies & was doing production & design. I have designed Garments for Top Shop, Miss S, & when at Gimme 5 I was designing & producing Very Ape, the UK Bathing Ape label back then. As well as editing & producing GoodenoughUK. Was even lucky enough to be involved in the design & creative process for Lagerfeld Sport (sadly that label never came to be, but what fun doing it) so being aware of more than just production just seemed natural. Also when I was 18 I went to Premiere Vision & saw the Audio Visual presentations they did of trend & colour. Once I saw that...that is what I wanted to do...so it only took me 21 years to get there.
But while we were doing production for our clients at Fof3 we were always giving some sort of consulting on the side, whether it was colour, fabrics or design...we always put our ten pence in so to speak. So it was something that was in the pipeline, but you could not do both...& in the end, even though I know production like that back of my hand...enough is enough.

Renowned as the Blogfather – how long have you been writing for?

Writing 3 years, but been an opinionated bastard for years ha ha hah. I started writing my blog about 3 years ago on Fatsarazzi, & then it just snowballed...I was invited to join blog after blog after blog. It was quite silly at first, but now I am really enjoying what I write & who I write for. Infact I want to do more & more...I have so much chat it is ridiculous...I could write for GB at the olympics.

It seems like you are constantly shifting perceptions. Where do you look for inspiration?

Wow...shifting perceptions huh ? Well I guess so, in this job you always are looking for the new even in the Old. There is inspiration everywhere if you just look beyond the everyday, the norm. I try to look beyond what is there.
It is hard to answer this question as I do not think there is a defined answer to it. If I could explain it would just be formula. It is something that just happens, you get inspired. I know that is vague, but I can’t answer it any better.

Established in Street photography – how did it developed into a pivotal part of your career? Are there any upcoming projects in the pipeline?

Career...damn wish I could make a career out of it...need a good agent...any takers !!!? I would have to say sheer perseverance & belief in what is your talent. I am always out cameras in hand documenting all that captures my eye & interests me. A projects...my Moleskin Note book is full of projects that I want to do, that I dod do when finance & time allow. One that I am really into is inspired by a photo taken by Tazio Secchiaroli of Sophia Loren ( he took loads of pictures of her ) with a Semi Fisheye Lens. It is a full body picture, & has all the back drop & the lights etc in shot. I like the idea of a shoot where the shoot is the shoot...does that make sense. Well I had the opportunity to try this out recently...a test run...& it showed promise. I want to do it again, but how I would do it...maybe in my garden...something off beat.
But I have quiet a few projects...a Helmut Newton shoot that I would like to emulate may way...a shoot from Nova Magazine in the 70’s where all the models eyes are blacked out & it looks like a criminal report...too many...I will get through them.

Much of your work has centered on portraiture, always using an eclectic mix of eccentricities and off-beat characters - how do you go about recruiting your subjects?

Luckily for me I know a lot interesting people & have shot a lot of them already, but the new...I just go up & ask...many say yes, but there are a few who say no. Sometimes I just give my card & say check my work & send me a mail I will meet you blah blah blah. & then there is the ego booster, when you ask they say, ‘yeah I know you, sure would love you to take my picture’

Any interesting scenarios/stories spring to mind?

Too many...oh there was this one time in Las Vegas, when I asked this Latino Girl if I could take her picture. She said no problem, gave me a big smile and leaned up against the wall & gave me a look. As I am taking the picture she says, ‘ Boy you smell great.’ What can I say...I love my cologne’s & that day it was Creed ‘Bois du Portugal’, Sinatra’s fave too...what did I do...I turned into a dickhead teenager & got all embarrassed & bashful. I will never forget that...all my confidence went south for the summer.

London seems to be a great backdrop for your work? Are there any other places?

London, because I am here a lot & I still believe that London is the most inspiring place on the planet. But I love cityscapes & if I had to chose some other places it would have to be NYC & TOKYO, I love taking pictures of all the life there. But I am really into India & Asia right now...I would like to go and Document Life in Bombay, New Delhi, Bangkok, Saigon & other places...revisit places I have seen, but with fresh eyes & while they are becoming more ‘Westernised’ & where the gap between Now & Tradition is ever so apparent. I want to see & take picture of that more & more.

You recently shot pictures of your son depicted as the Joker – how did this originate?

He had a fancy dress party to go to & we all sat round the table & discussed what he should be. We had a Punk on the table at one point & then he said what about the Joker, but the new Joker or what about Son of Joker. Me being a Batman fan for way too long, well I was not going to complain. We both then set about making his out fit. Taped up old school blazers and jeans & sprayed them purple & green. I then just spent time checking out Heath Ledger’s make up. Che, my son finished it up by popping his joker NE hat on his head...I though he looked too cool & needed to snap the pictures...they look good, & he has a handsome fella.

Did you find The Dark Night dark?

Oh yes...I though it was one of the best comic adaptations ever, in fact Christopher Nolan should be the only director to do comic adaptations. Heath Ledger was breathtaking as the Joker...fantastic & Mr Bale is by far the best Bat that has ever graced the screen. This is the Batman I love from the comics & the closest to Frank Miller’s comics.
So many times a movies does not live up to the hype...& this film is not one of those. Amazing....lets see what happens with ‘The Watchmen’, in my opinion one the best comics of all time.

Be Well
fats: Aug 11, 2008 - 05:12 PM

God Save the Queen!

Maradona by Emir Kusturica (2008)

A documentary celebrating the extraordinary history and resurrection of Diego Maradona: sporting hero, people’s champion, fallen idol and inspiration to millions.
Serbian Director Emir Kusturica, winner of the Palme d'Or at Cannes twice for When Father Was Away on Business and Underground, signs in this documentary an intimate portrait of « the God », also known for his addiction to drugs.

Wishing to show his true face, Emir Kusturica skims self-indulgence, with flattering biopic and showcase for his musical talent.
The first shot is showing Kusturica himself playing the guitar with his own band, the No Smoking Orchestra , and has a large appreciation of his own cinematic achievements , so his inability to resist paying homage to the man he fondly calls the "Sex Pistol of football" with clips from his own movies and the sounds of his own gipsy rock.

Nevertheless, Emir Kusturica doesn’t drown himself into smugness, his film, which follows Maradona as he rides the " Alba express" in 2005, with 40,000 other activists, a train which took anti-FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas) protesters from across America to a summit, when Bush and his corporate partners paid a visit to the seaside resort of Mar Del Plata in Argentina bullying their southern neighbours. This allows the footballer to express his political views, and gives the pair a chance for a bit of anti-Nato bonding against the US presence in the Middle East and the bombing of Belgrade.
Not only political, Maradona, is also very moving, Diego Maradona explained at Cannes this year, for the premiere, why he agreed to the documentary: "People have written a lot of books about me, made a lot of films about me. I have been portrayed as somebody evil, somebody bad, somebody mediocre. Emir was able to penetrate to my heart, to talk about what I have been through in the good and the bad moments of my life."
Enjoying unprecedented access to the man himself, as well as to extensive archives, Emir Kusturica takes us on an intimate whirlwind tour of places and people closest to Diego Maradona. From family and childhood friends to fellow players and world leaders (Fidel Castro).
Tracing an incredible story, from the modest beginnings to world-domination, from tragic fall to glorious rebirth. Profoundly moving, joyous and life-affirming, featuring an original song from Manu Chao.
Nearly egocentric, Maradona is in fact, a unique documentation of a growing friendship between the director and his subject.

-Laure Brosson-

Published in www.deadfoxfanzine.com