Becoming Zlatan. (12A.)
Directed by Magnus Gertten and Fredrik Gertten.
Featuring Zlatan Ibrahmovic Leo Beenhakker, Hasse Borg, Fabio Capello, David Endt and Mido Ahmed Hossam Hussain. Out on DVD and digital download from Studiocanal. 96 mins.
The title is surely ironic. Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahmovic is many things – gifted, arrogant and on his very, very, very best days arguably the world's third best player – but he is rarely becoming. A Steven Seagal look-alike, he clumps around the pitch, rarely moving at a speed fast enough to get his ponytail to anything above half mast, looking vaguely dismissive of all the huffing and puffing going on around him.
So why does he merit a whole movie about his formative years? Quite simply because although he may not score the quantity of goals of Messi and Ronaldo, nobody, but nobody, score goals as spectacular as Zlatan. Should you be on the YouTube and be interested in compilations of famous players' best strikes, his will surpass those of any other player on this earth. There are his kung fu goals, his dribbling goals, his free kick goals, his overhead kick goals, his walloped goals from distance.
The film's cinema's release was carefully co-ordinated to coincide with Sweden crashing out of the European championship and his retirement from international football; the DVD, digital download release comes just after the start of his first season in the English Premiership, which the young Zlatan describes as “crap” in the film. This documentary follows him through his formative years: from his time breaking into the first team at FF Malmo in his native Sweden, to his first big transfer to Ajax in Holland, when the teenager was their most expensive player ever, and the start of his time with Juventus when he was managed by Fabio “The Hat” Capello.
The revelation of the film is that he seems to have have spent the first half decade of his career being trailed by a camera crew. That the strapping 6”4' son of a Bosnian father and Croat mother was seen as destined for great things is clear though the film shows that on various occasions he came close to blowing it all. The film is predominantly made up of footage from that period though there are a few recently filmed interviews with managers and friends from the time, though not Ibrahimavic himself. It's good stuff mostly, interesting and revealing, though the way it keeps cutting back between his time at Ajax and his early days at Malmo is unnecessary confusing and makes you suspect that the film makers are trying to cover up for some absence.
The modern Zlatan is a complete creation, a perfect front. The younger Zlatan was still working on it, not quite sure how to form his guard but given the enormous and intimate scrutiny the film puts him under it is truly remarkable how little he gives away about himself. The arrogance is surely a cover for something but though he was clearly a loner and finds it hard to trust anyone, he doesn't give any indication of what demons lurk within him. Or maybe there are none; there's a pretty vacancy to him, with his almost boy band looks and total disdain. He does stupid things but is largely unconcerned by the reaction to them. The vertical tuft of his hair suggest another fine mess he's gotten into, but the perpetual cocky grin suggests a man who considers the rest of humanity a chore to be endured.
Directed by Magnus Gertten and Fredrik Gertten.
Featuring Zlatan Ibrahmovic Leo Beenhakker, Hasse Borg, Fabio Capello, David Endt and Mido Ahmed Hossam Hussain. Out on DVD and digital download from Studiocanal. 96 mins.
The title is surely ironic. Swedish footballer Zlatan Ibrahmovic is many things – gifted, arrogant and on his very, very, very best days arguably the world's third best player – but he is rarely becoming. A Steven Seagal look-alike, he clumps around the pitch, rarely moving at a speed fast enough to get his ponytail to anything above half mast, looking vaguely dismissive of all the huffing and puffing going on around him.
So why does he merit a whole movie about his formative years? Quite simply because although he may not score the quantity of goals of Messi and Ronaldo, nobody, but nobody, score goals as spectacular as Zlatan. Should you be on the YouTube and be interested in compilations of famous players' best strikes, his will surpass those of any other player on this earth. There are his kung fu goals, his dribbling goals, his free kick goals, his overhead kick goals, his walloped goals from distance.
The film's cinema's release was carefully co-ordinated to coincide with Sweden crashing out of the European championship and his retirement from international football; the DVD, digital download release comes just after the start of his first season in the English Premiership, which the young Zlatan describes as “crap” in the film. This documentary follows him through his formative years: from his time breaking into the first team at FF Malmo in his native Sweden, to his first big transfer to Ajax in Holland, when the teenager was their most expensive player ever, and the start of his time with Juventus when he was managed by Fabio “The Hat” Capello.
The revelation of the film is that he seems to have have spent the first half decade of his career being trailed by a camera crew. That the strapping 6”4' son of a Bosnian father and Croat mother was seen as destined for great things is clear though the film shows that on various occasions he came close to blowing it all. The film is predominantly made up of footage from that period though there are a few recently filmed interviews with managers and friends from the time, though not Ibrahimavic himself. It's good stuff mostly, interesting and revealing, though the way it keeps cutting back between his time at Ajax and his early days at Malmo is unnecessary confusing and makes you suspect that the film makers are trying to cover up for some absence.
The modern Zlatan is a complete creation, a perfect front. The younger Zlatan was still working on it, not quite sure how to form his guard but given the enormous and intimate scrutiny the film puts him under it is truly remarkable how little he gives away about himself. The arrogance is surely a cover for something but though he was clearly a loner and finds it hard to trust anyone, he doesn't give any indication of what demons lurk within him. Or maybe there are none; there's a pretty vacancy to him, with his almost boy band looks and total disdain. He does stupid things but is largely unconcerned by the reaction to them. The vertical tuft of his hair suggest another fine mess he's gotten into, but the perpetual cocky grin suggests a man who considers the rest of humanity a chore to be endured.
