Zidane at EMPAC
All Zizou, all the time.
EMPAC's "unfiction" series continues this Friday with a screening of Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait.
The documentary follows soccer great Zinedine Zidane* through the course of a 2005 club match -- literally. Seventeen cameras were used to shoot Zidane -- and only Zidane -- the whole time.
Wrote Manhola Dargis in NYT:
You learn little by way of hard facts about the adored French soccer star and famous head-butter Zinédine Zidane in the formalist exercise that bears his name. But after 90 absorbing minutes watching him walking and running across a field in "Zidane," dripping and pouring sweat, inscrutably staring into space and the breathing, cheering wall of humanity circling him, and leaping and twisting into the air to guide the ball toward victory, he will seem more expressively human, less of an aesthetic conceit and more of a man, than he does at the start of this self-described "21st Century Portrait."
Added Wired: "Zidane plays like an extremely expensive, star-driven conceptual art project."
Here's the trailer.
EMPAC is showing Zidane Friday at 8 pm in its theater. Tickets are $5. Word is this could be a sell-out, so you might want to think about buying ahead of time.
*For those who don't follow soccer (er, football), Zidane is one of the greatest players of the last decade -- and maybe of all time. And, yep, he's also the guy who bizarrely head butted an opposing player during the 2006 World Cup.
still: Universal
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Comments
I am obviously biased on the matter, but I do think this one is going to be top notch.
If you are interested in attending, I would recommend getting a ticket ahead of time or getting to the box office early on Friday - there's a solid chance that this will sell out some time before Friday night at 8 pm. As enticement to roll up early, the good folks from The Epicurean (http://www.epicurean-ny.com/) will be on site at 7 pm, selling all sorts of delicious whatnot.
... said skfl on Feb 25, 2009 at 11:53 AM | link
Also, the film is soundtracked by Mogwai. That = awesome.
... said steve-o on Feb 25, 2009 at 1:06 PM | link
Sold out? I'd love to think that there are that many fellow football, er, soccer fans in the area, but the total lack of pubs playing matches on TV doesn't back it up.
... said Ellsass on Feb 25, 2009 at 1:22 PM | link
re: Ellsass - no idea what the specific draw is (soccer, Mogwai, some other factors), but like I said, it will almost certainly sell out the day of, if not before.
... said skfl on Feb 25, 2009 at 2:51 PM | link
@skfl: really? I like the EMPAC *a lot*, and have showed up at the last moment a fair amount of times: it was rarely sold out. I'm with Ellsass, I hope you guys do sell out, I do, but out of curiosity, you think this show would fill the Theater? Studio 1, OK, but the Theater? You can park 10 Aquaducks in the place! Are RPI students that much into soccer? The Wired review linked above is "meh", and I'm "Zidane-saturated" by origin, but I'm looking forward the reviews and comments Saturday...
... said -S on Feb 25, 2009 at 4:32 PM | link
@S: Give it a shot. That being said, having heard the number of tickets sold and knowing the capacity and seeing how shows at EMPAC work in terms of walk up sale, I'd recommend buying a ticket ahead of time, just in case.
... said skfl on Feb 25, 2009 at 9:18 PM | link
Ellsass: I'm not necessarily a huge soccer (ugh that word) fan, but I like to watch it and can at least explain the offsides rule. People in my office were following the World Cup and I do have to say, of all places, I watched a match on the TVs at Smokey Bones in Colonie. So I guess fans are out there.
... said B on Feb 26, 2009 at 1:24 PM | link