Movie Haiku - Goal!

www.goalthemovie.com


Dir: Danny Cannon


Cast: Kuno Becker, Alessandro Nivola, Stephen Dillane, Anna Friel


He's good with a ball

Toon want to play in big cup

Beckham tries acting


Football films are generally crap, so I went into the screening of Goal! with zero expectations. The set up is pretty familiar; a young boy dreams of playing professional football, is given his chance, and has to overcome various adversities to achieve his ambitions. The boy is Santiago (Becker) who is discovered playing on the streets of LA by Glen Foy (Dillane), a former club scout for Newcastle United. He promises a trial for the lad - if he can get himself over to England. His father disapproves, but with the help of his Gran he manages to get a plane ticket and arrives on Tyneside where he's taken in by Foy. Now he has to impress the 'gaffer' at United with his skills, all the while making friends with playboy striker Gavin Harris (Nivola), falling for the team doctor (Friel) - and overcoming his problem with asthma, so cruelly exploited by one of his team mates. Will he succeed and help Newcastle United qualify for the Champions League? What do you think? So far so cliched, but what makes Goal! transcend its formulaic story is the ambition and scope of all involved. For starters there's director Danny Cannon, returning to film after finding success in the US with the CSI series. Then there's the writing talents of Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais, the duo behind the enduring Auf Wiedersehen Pet series - who better to write a script set in Newcastle, laced with wit, passion and human drama. And unlike Unleashed (set in Glasgow - are you sure?), Goal! revels in its location, showcasing the city and unashamedly letting the Geordie dialogue shine through. But perhaps the most telling contribution to the film is by FIFA, football's governing body; by allowing the film makers access to the real players and Premiership games there is, for the first time, a sense that the action on the pitch is really happening - because it really did. So, we see Nivola swapping passes with Alan Shearer, Steven Gerrard leads the opposing Liverpool team out in the film's big match finale, and there's cameos from the likes of David Beckham and Zidane elsewhere. Of course, this being Premiership football, it quickly dates - hence the likes of Jenas, Robert, Kluivert and Milner have all moved clubs since the film was made! And it's perhaps cruel to suggest that Newcastle United qualifying for European football is indeed only fiction! Anyway, it's hard to criticise because essentially the characters are likeable, with Becker bringing real enthusiasm to the role of Santiago. Nivola's character of Harris is so obviously based on ex-NUFC bad boy Craig Bellamy, whilst the manager is clearly inspired by Arsene Wenger. There's also some fun supporting roles for Sean Pertwee as a football agent, Lee Ross as Harris's wide-boy buddy, and even AC/DC singer Brian Johnson as a Newcastle fan propping up a bar over in LA where Santiago's family are following his progress. Throw in a hip, laddish soundtrack full of Oasis and Kasabian and you can't really go wrong. Envisioned as a trilogy, with part two following Santiago at Real Madrid (currently being filmed by Jaume Collet-Serra) and part three based around the 2006 World Cup, this is a bold, ambitious attempt to make a decent series of films about football. On the evidence of Goal! they've certainly scored with their first shot on target.

soulmining rating: ****