Football (2001)

Lots of young British boys want to become great footballers. Does young Midge have what it takes? Watch as he goes from cradle to...?

Director:

Gaby Dellal

Writer:

Gaby Dellal

Stars:

Helena Bonham Carter, Ewan Stewart, Sam Williams

3 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Helena Bonham Carter	...	Mum (as Helena Bonham-Carter)
Ewan Stewart	...	Dad
Sam Williams	...	Midge, 12 years
Eileen Webb	...	Nan
Stace Davis	...	Midge, 9 years
Rudi Tombs	...	Midge, 5 years
Jack Oxtoby	...	Midge, 2 years
Jasmine Davis	...	Baby Midge
Dion Macky	...	Diego
Danny Cequiera	...	Teacher
Arnold Mybo	...	Torch Kid #1
Anthony Wordsworth	...	Torch Kid #2
Shaka Lynch	...	Torch Kid #3
Todd Timney-Fowler	...	Torch Kid #4
Sonny Rooney	...	Torch Kid #5

Storyline

In what looks like a council flat, a distracted chain-smoking mom, who's at her wit's end what with the noise of her colicky infant, hangs a twirling ball over his crib. The child, a lad named Midge, quiets immediately. As he grows older, his mum seems oblivious to his existence and to his increasingly adept ball-handling skills. By age 12, Midge and the twirling ball are on the football pitch; but what about mum?

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Plot Keywords:

school | talent | television | soccer

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Genres:

Short | Comedy | Sport

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

8 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Interesting short - but only makes a very basic observation

The short shows a young baby's first interaction with a ball and follows his obsession through his early years until secondary school. The passing of the years are shown by the matches played on the TV - from Maradona's "hand of god" to Owen's wonderful goal against Argentina in France 98.

This starts well, opening with a list of statistics about jobs - 400 boys want to be traffic wardens, 4000 want to be policemen etc, building to 4,000,000 want to be footballers. It then starts with Midge as a baby and goes from their. However the action of the majority of the film is just following Midge as he kicks the ball in his room and then dribbles round streets and eventually gets into trouble at school. However there doesn't seem to be any point to it - at the end we see another 3 year old starting the same trend, the point being only 11 boys can make it onto the pitch, but by then there have been ample opportunities to make other points.

The cast are OK. Bonham Carter should be cheered for giving her time and her fame to shorts like this, indeed she is the main speaking character here. She's amusing and a good character but even she doesn't have much to do. There's no faulting Sam Williams' skill with a ball and it's interesting to watch just to see him move, but he doesn't really have a character.

Overall, it's interesting but it doesn't seem to have any point other than a very basic observation. The best reason for watching it is to relive Owen's great goal in France 98. Other than that, it doesn't have much to say.