Tom meets Zizou - No Summer Fairy Tale

The documentary Tom meets Zizou - No Summer Fairy Tale bears witness to how rocky the road to success can be and how important personal happiness is in the process. From 2003 to 2011, documentary filmmaker Aljoscha Pause accompanied footballer Thomas Broich, starting with his time as a celebrated second-division player at the club Wacker Burghausen. There, Broich was considered one of the DFB's very great young hopes, mentioned in the same breath as top kickers like Bastian Schweinsteiger or Lukas Podolski. For many it was certain that Broich would not need long to play in the 1st position in the front and also to belong to the team of the national team.

But Broich eckt with his kind again and again. Dubbed the Mozart of football by the media because of his love of literature and classical music, the ambitious athlete clashed with coaches time and again during his rise, especially with Dutchman Dick Advocaat and Christoph Daum. He was only able to demonstrate his talent far too rarely and thus failed to live up to the high expectations placed on him not only by the fans but also by himself. Instead of going up, he went downhill over the years. A move to 1. FC Nuremberg was supposed to bring a turnaround, as the coach Michael Oenning was a close friend of Broich. But for the former Mozart, the 1st league had long since lost its glamour, its charm and its magic.

Tom meets Zizou - No Summer Fairy Tale is not, however, a story of the slow failure of a great football hope. Because in the meantime Broich is playing at the top again - just not in Germany. At the Australian first division club Brisbane Roar he has rediscovered his love for football and even made it to second place in the election for Australia's Footballer of the Year. In many very honest and straightforward conversations, the film unfolds the portrait of a young man trying to find his way, always staying true to himself, even when a huge machinery tries to bend him. At the same time, the viewer is offered an interesting look behind the scenes of Bundesliga football that is revealing without being accusatory.

As Broich is simply interesting as a character, even if he seems to be a bit too stubborn and difficult at times, Tom meets Zizou - Kein Sommermärchen is worth watching not only for viewers interested in football. However, 140 minutes are simply too much of a good thing, even for a long-term documentary. The documentary is not really boring, but Aljoscha Pause succeeds very well in making his portrait seem very honest and authentic. But as engaging as it is to watch Broich's dream slowly but surely seem to burst and how he threatens to lose his initial passion for playing football, only to rise like Phoenix from the ashes, the feeling remains at the end that all this could have been conveyed in not so epic breadth. So, on balance, the film is certainly worth watching, but, at least in the theatrical release, can really only be recommended to interested viewers with a good amount of seat time due to its length.

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp