You might have expected Netflix's four-part documentary about David Beckham, and made by his own production company, to be a hagiography "that would offer a few tasty morsels, but would mostly polish the shiny tiara of Brand Beckham", said Carol Midgley in The Times. "And you would be right." There is also arguably some irony in the fact that it features a couple complaining about media intrusion while handing over family videos for a series about their personal lives. But the crucial question is: is the film entertaining? Well, "I binged the lot in one sitting".
Directed by Fisher Stevens (the PR man Hugo in "Succession"), it should appeal "whether you're a Manchester United season-ticket holder or more of a Victoria Beckham type", said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian. There are interviews with Beckham's parents (his mother in particular is "great value") as well as with celebrities from Eric Cantona and Rio Ferdinand to Anna Wintour. And though the documentary rather skirts over the allegations that he had an affair in the 2000s, "there are loads of gossipy nuggets": about the sarong, the many haircuts, and the decision to wear purple at his wedding – one he can no longer fathom.
Some of it is moving too, including the scenes in which Beckham and Alex Ferguson talk about how Ferguson turned on, then cast out, the boy "he'd raised like a son", said Benji Wilson in The Daily Telegraph. What ultimately emerges from this series is a "superb" portrait of both "an era and of an unexpectedly complex man".
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up to the Arts & Life newsletter for reviews and recommendations
-
Taps could run dry in drought-stricken TehranUnder the Radar President warns that unless rationing eases water crisis, citizens may have to evacuate the capital
-
Alaska faces earth-shaking loss as seismic monitoring stations shutterIN THE SPOTLIGHT NOAA cuts have left the western seaboard without a crucial resource to measure, understand and predict tsunamis
-
10 great advent calendars for everyone (including the dog)The Week Recommends Countdown with cocktails, jams and Legos
-
Gen Z in Los Angeles, the end of ‘Stranger Things’ and a new mystery from the creator of ‘Breaking Bad’ in November TVthe week recommends This month's new television releases include ‘I Love L.A.,’ ‘Stranger Things’ and ‘Pluribus’
-
6 homes with fall foliagefeature An autumnal orange Craftsman, a renovated Greek Revival church and an estate with an orchard
-
Bugonia: ‘deranged, extreme and explosively enjoyable’Talking Point Yorgos Lanthimos’ film stars Emma Stone as a CEO who is kidnapped and accused of being an alien
-
The Revolutionists: a ‘superb and monumental’ bookThe Week Recommends Jason Burke ‘epic’ account of the plane hijackings and kidnappings carried out by extremists in the 1970s
-
Film reviews: ‘Bugonia,’ ‘The Mastermind’ and ‘Nouvelle Vague’feature A kidnapped CEO might only appear to be human, an amateurish art heist goes sideways, and Jean-Luc Godard’s ‘Breathless’ gets a lively homage
-
Book reviews: ‘Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity’ and ‘Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice’feature An examination of humanity in the face of “the Machine” and a posthumous memoir from one of Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, who recently died by suicide
-
The 5 best political thriller series of the 21st centuryThe Week Recommends Viewers can binge on most anything, including espionage and the formation of parliamentary coalitions
-
The dazzling coral gardens of Raja AmpatThe Week Recommends Region of Indonesia is home to perhaps the planet’s most photogenic archipelago
