Infinite Football – Fotbal Infinit (2018)

Directed by: Corneliu Porumboiu | 70 minutes | documentary

It’s hard to get into the world of ‘Infinite Football’. This is not a movie without an instruction manual, it seems. In a dilapidated building, a Romanian man talks about his wish to invent new rules for football, such as a hexagonal field. The mumbling midlifer Laurenţiu Ginghină initially raises little dust; just like the documentary as a whole, which gives the impression of a regional TV report.

The persistence of atmospheric film-maker Corneliu Porumboiu (’12:08 East of Bucharest’) eventually lands a bit on the viewer. Ginghină – although not an inspired narrator and also an acquaintance of the maker, does have something to say, although the football hater will drop out for reasons other than those mentioned above.

That is not advisable, because whoever bites the bullet will see a man who has found a reason to change his destiny (growing up in a poor communist country, career-ending sports injury before the fall of Ceaușescu) and to seek connection with the successful world beyond. We also get a glimpse into the tragicomedy of the post-communist Balkan bureaucracy, with its fast suits and computers, but equally patient citizens and ever purple crocodiles.

However, it is typical of this kind of humane docs that the message and good intentions are considered sufficient by the makers, and that the viewer is offered little dramatic construction and visual drama; a no-nonsense documentary about a tonelessly speaking man whose wedding photo has failed.

Why should the photographer on duty be interviewed about the fact that all the wedding guests were still getting ready for the photo when it was taken? Porumboiu himself also seems to be wondering this while wandering around in the picture. But hey, this is fun work, and you shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. The paying cinemagoer may think differently about this. Even for football lovers, ‘Infinite Football’ is boring as a church service.