"But we do get one exception: Keane, played by Eanna Hardwicke, practising alone in the grounds. At the back of a court, the sullen, spartan athlete stands as a ball is fired up and over the net towards him. He tracks it with his eyes, opens up his right foot, takes the ball on his instep and kills it dead. And with that, his sporting bona fides are confirmed."
"Which might be a canny choice, because while the world's most popular sport only continues to grow its audience, football's track record on the big screen is, how shall we say, like Manchester United after Sir Alex. Ninety minutes is what we get in a game, give or take. Films are also 90 minutes. And the experience of the two things are fundamentally different, says Paul Fraser, Saipan's screenwriter."
Saipan largely takes place in a decrepit hotel and avoids recreating World Cup match action, concentrating instead on tense interpersonal conflict. A solitary training scene on a tennis court establishes Roy Keane's sporting intensity through one precise, controlled touch. The film interrogates masculinity and male ego against the backdrop of Ireland's Celtic Tiger era and questions of national identity. The production intentionally sidelines large-scale football spectacle because cinematic experiences do not reproduce the visceral intensity of live matches. Screenwriter Paul Fraser notes films move audiences differently from games and sees abundant narrative potential across football biographies.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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