Sixty Six

UK 2006, 93 minutes
Dir. Paul Weiland
English
Rating: [M]
Genres: Comedy, Drama

Topics: Sport, Period 1960s.

Feat. Helena Bonham Carter, Eddie Marsan, Stephen Rea, Catherine Tate

Aroview: Gentle, uplifting British comedy-drama about a young boy preparing for his Bar Mitzvah in North London, which just happens to clash with the 1966 World Cup final.

Largely autobiographical, dir. Weiland tempers his film’s central dilemma – that if England make the World Cup final, no one will attend the party – with Jewish in-jokes and warm familial dynamics; Helena Bonham Carter in particular shining as the maternal glue that holds the family together. This is never too cute, while soccer fans of a certain age may not be able to hold back tears of nostalgia with some amazing archival footage of the ’66 World Cup.