The Goalie's Anxiety at the Penalty Kick

Director: Wim Wenders

1972 / 100min / DCP

Sent off at an away game after committing a foul, goalkeeper Josef Bloch (Arthur Brauss) wanders the streets of an unfamiliar and unfriendly town—and come the following day finds himself with blood on his hands, retreating to his hometown and the hospitality of an ex-girlfriend (Kai Fischer) to await the inevitable arrival of the police. Adapting Peter Handke’s novella of the same name for his feature debut, Wenders—working with cameraman Robby Müller and editor Peter Przygodda, crucial collaborators for years to come—drew inspiration from the chilly precision of Hitchcock’s cinema, producing in this downbeat Teutonic noir one of the seminal works of New German Cinema.

Distributor: Janus Films

Part of The Art of Soccer