In many bars where chatting with friends isn't enough, a table sport sometimes resides; it can also be found in many rumpus rooms across the land. It is table soccer, or foosball. This table top game is the subject of Foosballers, yet another niche game documentary focusing on six competitive players gearing up for the world championships.
This does give the viewer a good history of the game, although with some pretty cheesy '50s educational programming soundtrack and narration. The focus on the different players shows a variety of different characters, including an anaesthesiologist and his foos-loving family, a retired police woman, and of course, the best in the biz.
It is interesting to see what moves a professional player can do, and there is a lot of footage on how the players prepare for a game (taking notes, watching videos of plays), but something about this feels way too familiar. Ever since King of Kong, it feels like these documentaries are trying to accomplish the same thing.
When these kinds of documentaries are made, it is usually something interesting about the subjects themselves that makes the film compelling. This is just a bunch of people who are really good at a game. It feels like the foos-heads will be fans of this, knowing the sport and seeing the heroes of the game, but for everyone else? Interest is lost on watching people turn a knob to flick a ball around.
This mostly aims to legitimize the game as a sport, and that is totally fine, but for the average viewer, it may be a bit of a yawn.
(Independent)This does give the viewer a good history of the game, although with some pretty cheesy '50s educational programming soundtrack and narration. The focus on the different players shows a variety of different characters, including an anaesthesiologist and his foos-loving family, a retired police woman, and of course, the best in the biz.
It is interesting to see what moves a professional player can do, and there is a lot of footage on how the players prepare for a game (taking notes, watching videos of plays), but something about this feels way too familiar. Ever since King of Kong, it feels like these documentaries are trying to accomplish the same thing.
When these kinds of documentaries are made, it is usually something interesting about the subjects themselves that makes the film compelling. This is just a bunch of people who are really good at a game. It feels like the foos-heads will be fans of this, knowing the sport and seeing the heroes of the game, but for everyone else? Interest is lost on watching people turn a knob to flick a ball around.
This mostly aims to legitimize the game as a sport, and that is totally fine, but for the average viewer, it may be a bit of a yawn.
