Football superstar Eric Cantona, the poetic yet pugilistic French striker who played best for English club Manchester United in the 1990s, gets the whole the-man-the-myth-the-legend treatment in the starkly if aptly titled documentary Cantona.
The latest from sports-movie stylists David Tryhorn and Ben Nicholas, who co-directed the comparable single-soccer-subject profile Pele as well as The Figo Affair: The Transfer That Changed Football, this zippy package combines plenty of recently shot interview snippets with Cantona himself, cantankerous but charismatic as ever, with encomiums from three of his most significant colleagues: Man U manager Alex Ferguson, French mentor Guy Roux and teammate David Beckham. Plus his parents. It’s all interspersed with lashings of archive material, including the footage of Cantona’s infamous karate kick to the chest of a heckler, which temporarily derailed Cantona’s career. For sports fans, especially those worshipful of King Eric, this is pure cinematic cocaine, neatly chopped out, electrifying at first although too much of it could leave you feeling jaded and jangly.
Cantona
The Bottom Line
Cinematic catnip for soccer fans.
