Excellent new soundtrack for this film from Mogwai. They truly did a fantastic job on this.
Turner Prize-winning artist and filmmaker Gordon teams up with French artist Parreno to create a work glorious in its simplicity. This is a portrait on film, in action and in real time, using seventeen synchronised cameras each focusing solely on Zinedine Zidane, one of the world's greatest footballers, over the course of a single match between Real Madrid and Villareal. Magnificently edited, and
accompanied by a majestic score from Scottish rock heroes Mogwai, this is one of the finest studies of man in the workplace – an ode to the loneliness of the athlete, and the poise and resilience of the human body.
Mogwai's slow-shifting, meteoric post-rock might have never earnt
them a place on the back-of-the-nets montage on Match Of The Day,
but their soundtrack to Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait suggests
that for this band, football boasts a deeper emotional palette
than the Lightning Seeds could ever hope to evoke. Truthfully, it
beggars belief it's taken Mogwai so long to reach the rarefied
sphere of movie soundtracker; their gleaming, glittering
instrumentals are big and beautiful, like a glacier or a blue
whale. But supplying the score to Turner Prize artist Douglas
Gordon's match-long portrait of French footballer Zinédine
Zidane, is probably a subject somewhat closer to their hearts.
Lilting and ponderous, it boasts little of the fireworks that
this band have been known for: far from the anger its name
suggests, "Wake Up and Go Berserk" is a neat excursion into
serene ambience, all finger-picked semi-acoustic guitars and
padded sticks, while "It Would Have Happened Anyway" adds that
crucial tension, perhaps a product of the pre-penalty kick.
Mogwai's spirit has soften in recent years, but with Zidane, the
boys done good: call it a "Nessun Dorma" for the experimental
rock set.
If you're interested, hehe, PM me
