Kuyt (2017)

Directed by: Deborah van Dam | 69 minutes | documentary

The prodigal son who gives football club Feyenoord the national championship after eighteen long years. It sounds like a fairy tale. But television documentary ‘Kuyt’ shows that a beautiful fairy tale alone is not enough.

Dirk Kuyt, because this football player is what we are talking about here, moved to the large Feyenoord after a few years of Quick Boys and FC Utrecht. The striker experienced a heyday. He scored 71 league goals in three seasons and, in his own words, grew into an adult. The always hardworking attacker and the club of not talking but polishing together formed a golden combination. One blemish: he never won a prize. Feyenoord itself was also never on the highest step in the following years.

After a sequel in England (Liverpool) and Turkey (Fenerbahçe SK), the time had come in 2015. Kuyt returned to his Feyenoord. There was no question of phasing out. Becoming a champion, that was all that mattered. But then trainer Giovanni van Bronckhorst puts him on the bench at the beginning of the documentary, with a few matches to go.

The result is a disgruntled Kuyt. It characterizes the striker’s personality, but the neutral viewer mainly sees a nagging football millionaire. The childish behavior ensures that the gap between player and audience widens rather than narrows. Moreover, Kuyt is not the man of profound statements. Whether the viewer really gets access to the footballer remains uncertain.

Also in terms of form ‘Kuyt’ is not very exciting. Obligatory scenes of Kuyt on a massage table, playing football with his son in his immense backyard and fooling around with the disabled at an open day of his foundation. The picture of the ideal son-in-law soon becomes boring. Feyenoord fans will probably enjoy it, but there is little to experience for the neutral viewer. The documentary, and Kuyt himself, is at its best when the player is allowed to enter the football field. It cannot be called magical, as a player Kuyt is too unpolished for that, but those are the moments when ‘Kuyt’ knows how to move the most. With that last, glorious championship match, in which the footballer scores three goals, as the highlight. It’s a long wait for that to happen.