All over the world, people love the sport of soccer, or what they call football. We don’t give a rat’s ass about here, but it’s a big deal in Brazil, Egypt, England, and all those others countries whose names don’t include United, States, and America. We do all love the universal language of film, though, and that’s good, because a movie studio just bought North American distribution rights for a Mexican film about football. The boring kinda football.
Sony Pictures Classic is going to distribute Rudo Y Cursi, starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna. The two previously teamed up for Y tu mama tambien, which was a pretty big critical success in 2002. Rudo Y Cursi is written and directed by Carlos Cuarón, who also wrote Y tu mama tambien. The movie will make its US premiere at Sundance on Friday.
So how does the football figure in? Garcia Bernal and Luna are poor brothers who are discovered and become world famous football players. They end up on opposite sides of the field (it’s sometimes called a “pitch,” not to be confused with a pitch in baseball) and become bitter and jealous of each other. Sounds like the feel good movie of the year! Actually the poster makes me think it might be a comedy.
