15/05/2006

In Italy, just a few days before the World Cup, the world of football is in the midst of a storm. The courtrooms and front pages are filled with partial refereeing, betting and fixed games that are surfacing. All we can do then is console ourselves with cinema football that offers us a still poetic vision tied to a childish and sincere passion: the film in question is 4-4-2 Il gioco più bello del mondo (lit. “4-4-2: The Most Beautiful Game in the World”), to be released Friday, May 19, by Medusa on 80 screens.

An entertaining and bitter comedy, the film is divided into four episodes directed by four debut directors, former students of the National Film School: Michele Carrillo, Claudio Cupellini, Francesco Lagi and Roan Johnson. Starring non-professional actors alongside the likes of Valerio Mastandrea, Francesca Inaudi, Gigio Alberti and Nino D’Angelo, the €1.5m euro film received backing from Sky and Medusa Film.

“Our films pays irreverent though nevertheless tender and poetic homage to football,” said director Paolo Virzì, who produced the film with his Motorino Amaranto. “The film’s perspective is not disillusioned, but infused with a joyous and romantic love towards the football played in the fields down the street from your house”.

The film’s main characters have all, in fact, been excluded from the big money circles. There are promising young players, small-time talent scouts, frustrated former footballers and goalies at the end of their careers. Everyone wants to hear their name screamed in the stadiums, but no one will. Judging by what happens today, perhaps this is for the best. And it is precisely what happens in the first episode, “Meglio di Maradona” (lit. “Better Than Maradona”), in which a young Neapolitan football prodigy is chosen by the Juventus youth league. However, he ultimately chooses friendly games on the street over a Series A career filled with Rolexes and showgirls.

(Translated from Italian)