The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
Die Angst des Tormanns beim Elfmeter
Synopsis
Goalkeeper Josef Bloch is sent off after committing a foul during an away game. This causes him to lose his bearings, and he wanders aimlessly through the city streets and spends the night with the box-office attendant of a movie theatre.
(Also known as The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty.)
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Critics reviews
Wenders is not just playing on the romance of America, but also its dark side. Bloch’s America is the America of Jim Thompson. This is America as a lawless and cruel place of violence. Bloch carries it around in his head.
Peter Bradshaw
July 13, 2018
CinePassion
The anti-suspense builds to a flicker of light behind the protagonist’s numb visage, the human condition as the unlucky goalie “in the wrong corner, sitting in a puddle.” The alliance with Hawks’ Red Line 7000 is explicitly acknowledged, Kitano offers a baseball-gangland retelling in Boiling Point.
Fernando F. Croce
January 01, 2010
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