Diego Maradona (2019)

[SaunchSmilax]

As both a Maradona and Asif Kapadia fan, I'm very excited for this one. Probably my most anticipated of 2019.

Kapadia said: "I'm the master of making it as difficult as possible for myself. His agent had the idea to make a film about Diego Maradona in the early 1980s and he hired two cameramen to follow him from Argentina to Spain and Barcelona and then to Naples. The 500 hours is just the personal footage. There are thousands of hours in news and archival footage. And each match was two hours: the process is of elimination. You look at the footage, study it and ask: where's the drama? Where's the story? What's vital? What's repetitive? That's the fun and challenge of the process. What pushes the story forward? You have to make tough choices. You can't put everything in when you're covering someone who has led such a long and "rich" life."

[WorldForgot]

An enormous feat of editing -- Asif and Chris King compile hundreds of hours of tape footage and 9+ hours of interview into a seamless biography. Entrenched in history, in the artifacts of home videotapes and childhood Super 8 as well as sports broadcasts, the thrust here is the ambition of two muck-and-mired "homes," clamoring for their miracle boy to take them toward that golden cup.

Less tragic than his past two films, Maradona'z not dead yet, we're given a sociological flick -- Senna's profile gave us flashes of Brazil's love for its golden chariot, though not as persistent in framing as Diego Maradona's impoverished family and Napoli paradise-found -- positing collective passion as a cultural need, our despair for pride embodied within Maradona's grace on the pitch and mounting hubris off of it.

Asif called it a Scorsese kinda picture. This is a kid from the streets who learned to dance with the ball and still tangos with his own toxic impulses. Its a marvel to watch it play out through never-before-seen home tapes.

[wilberfan]

Probably one of the 7 Classic Plots--this rise-and-fall-and redemption story was quite compelling for this non-sports-follower.  My favorite moment had to be a classic of another sort:  A Dirk Diggler-esque thousand yard stare from Diego caught during a post-victory Christmas party, held for just as long, if not longer, and to equal effect.   In fact, given the time (80s) and the distractions (fucking and coke) and demands (perform or else)--dare I liken it to a kind of Diego Diggler Story?