Beckham

The first half, which follows Beckham’s career in England through its ups and downs, is excellent, evenly balancing the personal and the professional. With the emotions and other people's perspectives, it’s on his side, but that doesn't matter. Most impressive, of course, are the events after the 1998 World Cup. The problem comes with the last season with the Red Devils and the move to Spain and beyond. Things gets maddeningly patchy, with controversies (plenty of them, from falling out with whoever, parties, affairs, backing out of contracts, preferring business off the turf, declines in form), but no answers are demanded from David at all. Then the quick passages from his late career and post-career are a downright mockery of documentary decorum. It is true, however, that even so it loses none of its appeal. It undeniably has binge-watching qualities; it's hard to walk away from it. It's just that as excellent as the first half is, the second half is strikingly underdeveloped. PS: Mandatory after all the nostalgics (of which I am also one) who lament that mid-range bombs have almost disappeared from today's football, that it is no longer even trained properly and where are the times when gentlemen playmakers like Beckham, Nedved, Berger, del Piero, Carlos and many others could take and send one after another... You sobers up when you see after all these years how much time and space there was for preparation, guidance, checking the position of the goalkeeper and all the time no one was there. (2023.10.09)