Once in a Lifetime

Aroview: An explosive, tabloid-juicy account of the rise and fall of the New York Cosmos, a fledging team in the American Soccer League who, within the space of five years, transformed the image and popularity of the round ball game in a country notorious for its insular sports obsession.

Bought on a whim by Warner founder Steve Ross, his investment and sheer passion for the game soon attract the Cosmos its first major coup: the signing of Brazilian legend Pele. More World Cup stars follow, along with on-field success, enormous crowds, and the off-field fringe benefits of fleeting fame and fortune. Like all great enterprises birthed in seventies though, the inevitability of an implosion looms large. As with decade-intensive documentaries like INSIDE DEEP THROAT and A DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE, this also lucidly charts the surge of capitalist excess and ambition in a fertile social climate, lending further proof to the notion that in America in the 70s, there was indeed something in the water.

NZ International Film Festival 2006

more matches…