Infinite Football

A provincial town in Romania is home to a man who for many years now has been championing radical changes to the rules of soccer: the shape of the field, the offside rule—everything needs changing to set the ball free.

Director Corneliu Porumboiu, winner of the 2016 Camera d’Or in Cannes for 12:08 East of Bucharest, is himself the son of a referee, and he became very intrigued by this plan devised by Laurentiu, the brother of a childhood friend. So Porumboiu returned with a small film crew to his hometown of Vaslui, where Laurentiu still lives. The filmmaker is on-screen much of the time as he interviews Laurentiu about the new rules, his work as a local civil servant, and the twists and turns of his life.

It turns out that Laurentiu’s obsession with making these rule changes has its roots in a serious leg injury that turned his life upside down. With admirable tenacity—struck through with tragedy—he fights on for soccer 2.0, and beyond.