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Diego Maradona

2019

Asif Kapadia

Documentary, Self: Diego Armando Maradona, Dalma Maradona, Claudia Villafañe ...

7.0

2,665

Documentary Constructed from over 500 hours of never-before-seen footage, this documentary centers on the career of celebrated football player Diego Maradona who played for SSC Napoli in the 1980s.

	Author	Review
United States	Owen Gleiberman Variety	"It’s a heady, engrossing, indulgently sprawling profile of a modern athlete in all his glory and contradiction, but it’s also a film that leaves you with more questions than it should."	NEU
United States	Stephen Dalton The Hollywood Reporter	"As ever with Kapadia, 'Diego Maradona' delivers a typically strong technical package, but there are no real bombshell revelations or deep personal insights here."	NEU
United States	Eric Kohn IndieWire	"An absorbing look at Maradona's epic journey (...) By its end, the documentary has shown what it takes for a deity to come crashing down to Earth."	POS
United Kingdom	Robbie Collin Telegraph	"Kapadia compels you to care, whether you like football or not (...) This is filmmaking with the hand of God upon it (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Peter Bradshaw The Guardian	"[Kapadia] captures all the euphoria and catastrophe in a gripping documentary (...) This is in visual terms composed almost entirely of existing TV footage, cleverly chosen and shaped (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Fionnuala Halligan Screendaily	"[It] is in many ways, more satisfying than Kapadia’s previous work (...) Kapadia gets unexpectedly far into his life"	POS
United Kingdom	Ed Potton The Times	"A brilliantly edited patchwork of home videos, news footage, press conferences and audio snippets (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
	Kaleem Aftab Cineuropa	"It’s a great story, but one that has been well told before, and Kapadia struggles to find a new angle, despite having access to 500 hours of archive material"	NEU
Ireland	Paul Whitington Irish Independent	"A balanced picture of the great footballer's career and life (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Ireland	Donald Clarke Irish Times	"A film that makes brilliant use of his terrible, doomed momentum (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Ireland	James W. Anderson entertainment.ie	"Things just feel a little shallow (...) The film is packed with gems from a variety of archives and does give you a real sense of what Naples must have been like at that time (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	NEU
Ireland	Harry Guerin RTÉ	"[Kapadia's] unearthing of years of unseen footage and aversion to talking heads on screen are spellbinding (…) Rating: ★★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Canada	Andrew Parker The Gate	"[It] feels overwhelmingly comprehensive. It’s a cautionary tale that will endure as long as sports continue to exist (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Canada	Kwenton Bellette Screen Anarchy	"Asif Kapadia's third masterpiece (...) Any film by this director is required viewing."	POS
Australia	Sandra Hall Sydney Morning Herald	"Asif Kapadia has put together an extraordinarily intimate account of his rise and fall, enriched by grainy but graphic footage recording every phase of his life (…) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
Australia	Craig Mathieson Flicks	"A fascinating portrait of the retired soccer superstar"	POS

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