| Bridges In Movies | John Barry |
COPA 71 PG
Goal power…
★★★★★ OUT 8 MARCH CINEMAS
Long before football’s first Women’s World Cup made headlines in 1991, there was an unofficial version held in Mexico in 1971, which time – or perhaps FIFA – has forgotten. Co-directed by Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine, and produced by Serena (who also narrates) and Venus Williams, this entertaining documentary aims to right that wrong, introducing players from the tournament and the hardships they endured to be recognised in a male-dominated industry.
In the UK, the FA officially banned women’s football from 1921 to 1971. It was a similarly depressing story elsewhere. Mexican star Silvia Zaragoza describes being beaten and screamed at by her father for trying to join in games; Italian ace Elena Schiavo recalls, ‘The boys wouldn’t let me play.’ But in the aftermath of the men’s World Cup, held in Mexico in 1970, local entrepreneurs decided to organise a women’s competition to keep the money flowing in.
As vividly coloured vintage footage shows, it was a thrilling tournament that caught the imagination of the country and, briefly, turned the players into national heroes. ‘It felt like we’d been given wings,’ says France’s Nicole Mangas. It wasn’t long, however, before they saw the beautiful game’s uglier side. Packed with gleefully candid interviews and buoyed by a joyous soundtrack, Copa 71 restores these pioneers to their rightful place in history.
THE VERDICT A timely documentary with a spring in its step and fire in its belly.
DOGMAN 15
Arf-decent…
★★★★★ OUT 11 MARCH BD, DIGITAL
The latest from writer/ director Luc Besson is a curious tale of one man and his dogs. The man is Douglas (Caleb Landry Jones), who’s been arrested for an initially unspecified crime. Wounded and bloody, he’s dressed in a blonde wig and a pink evening dress. In the back of his van are his ‘babies’, a pack of dogs that obey his every command.
In his cell, Douglas meets Evelyn (Jojo T. Gibbs), a kindly psychiatrist to whom he feels compelled to reveal his backstory. Given its depiction of a lonely soul in the city, some may compare this New Jersey fable with Besson’s 1994 classic Léon. Here, Douglas only truly finds companionship with his furry friends. Their only flaw? Trusting humans, he says. Jones relishes the flamboyance of the character, an avenging angel in a satin gown, although the best scenes come when he’s shorn of make-up, talking one-on-one with Gibbs in the cell.
The film’s urge to inject bouts of ultra-violence proves its biggest misstep. When Besson unleashes the dogs of war, it all becomes rather tedious - a shame, because the idea of a pup-loving Pied Piper has merit. Just for good measure, DogMan throws in a Robin Hood-like procedural (involving stolen jewellery) and an overly zealous cop (Christopher Denham). It’s a big old mess of a movie, in other words: flawed but fun.
THE VERDICT Besson’s return to moviemaking has its moments, but it’s hardly the dog’s bollocks.