Vaguely interesting but pretty thin
Filmed mostly during the shooting of the film, the director and principle cast of the British comedy 'Bend It Like Beckham' all talk about the film in terms of the script, the casting of the film, the themes in the story that go beyond football and the filming of the football scenes themselves.
I watched this short film on the Bend it Like Beckham DVD and, doing so, could safely be assumed to have already spent my money and watched the film and, therefore, be watching this 'making of' after the fact. However, the 'making of' was made during the production of the film and therefore it really feels more like a promo piece rather than an actual interesting look back.
The narration fits with this idea as it is a rather cheesy woman who sounds like she is presenting a kids educational programme. In the same way too many of the talking heads merely praise other members of the cast without adding personal insight enough this is fine if the film is over an hour, but at 15 minutes you really need to cut to the chase. Elements of it are still worth seeing though and the director and cast are lively enough to listen to with interest even if you don't go away feeling informed.
Worth watching if you liked the film and have 15 minutes to spare but really it is pretty thin and only a energetic and natural series of talking heads prevent it from just being yet another promo piece labeled a documentary and used as DVD filler.
I watched this short film on the Bend it Like Beckham DVD and, doing so, could safely be assumed to have already spent my money and watched the film and, therefore, be watching this 'making of' after the fact. However, the 'making of' was made during the production of the film and therefore it really feels more like a promo piece rather than an actual interesting look back.
The narration fits with this idea as it is a rather cheesy woman who sounds like she is presenting a kids educational programme. In the same way too many of the talking heads merely praise other members of the cast without adding personal insight enough this is fine if the film is over an hour, but at 15 minutes you really need to cut to the chase. Elements of it are still worth seeing though and the director and cast are lively enough to listen to with interest even if you don't go away feeling informed.
Worth watching if you liked the film and have 15 minutes to spare but really it is pretty thin and only a energetic and natural series of talking heads prevent it from just being yet another promo piece labeled a documentary and used as DVD filler.
- bob the moo
- Sep 8, 2004