Nowitzki: Der perfekte Wurf (2014) Reviews

• Dirk rocks

  ferguson-62015-04-17

  Greetings again from the darkness. Dallas loves Dirk. The reasons why become obvious during this biopic that takes us from Dirk's youth basketball league in Germany through his NBA Finals, while including significantly more information on his family and personal life than we have previously seen. Interviews come courtesy of such well known faces as Kobe Bryant, Don Nelson, Michael Finley, Mark Cuban, Yao Ming, Jason Kidd and former NBA commissioner David Stern. Contrary to many sports documentaries, this is no shrine to its subject. Of course, we can't help but be charmed by the "great guy" superstar, but it's through his life challenges that we come to truly respect Dirk as a man. Director Sebastian Denhardt is one of the most prolific documentarians and filmmakers in Germany, but this look at Germany's most popular and successful athlete is his best and most accessible work to date. The most interesting segments involve Dirk's long time personal coach Holger Geschwindner, plus insight from Dirk's father, mother, sister, and childhood friend. It's during these times that we realize Dirk's "posse" is made of the people who he has always trusted – family and friends. The only two newcomers to his group of "insiders" are Lisa Tyner and Dirk's wife Jessica. Ms. Tyner is the Mavericks staffer who took Dirk under her wing when he was a youngster transitioning to life in the United States. While the film drills home the importance of Dirk's work ethic and commitment to excellence, the most entertaining moments include: Dirk's first meeting with Steve Nash, Dirk as a stick figure on Holger's software, Dirk in a tennis skirt (for Halloween), Dirk dominating on the court as a teenager, Dirk's mother discussing his move to the U.S., and best of all, Dirk stretching the truth a bit while meeting with former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt … and then admitting it! These days, disappointment seems to be the most common reaction when the curtain gets pulled back on celebrities and heroes. It's refreshing to look into the life and see that the biggest scandals were when Dirk was the one cheated by a former girlfriend, and he stood by in full support of a friend going through an investigation for tax evasion. Dirk shows he is as impressive as a human being as he is a basketball player. What he definitely isn't? A singer … we re-live his "We are the Champions" rendition from the parade. Dirk rocks!

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• Great sports documentary on somebody who really deserves it

  Horst_In_Translation2014-10-17

  If somebody asks me who I would consider the greatest German athlete of the 21st century so far, my answer would be Dirk Nowitzki. He has been among the best of his sport for over a decade now. He is really exceptional in a sport where German are pretty much not featured at all. And as good as the choice was to make him Germany's flag bearer in 2008 for the Olympics, as good is this documentary. Nowitzki is at its core, but we also find out about the most important people in his life, especially a lot about his mentor Holger Gschwindner. Another thing I liked is that it is not exclusively positive, but also tells about the struggles with Nowitzki's former girlfriend and Gschwindner's tax problems. The documentary does not go very deep into detail, but that is perfectly fine. It is a decent summary of Nowitzki's life and career packed in 100 minutes. It focuses mostly on Nowitzki's two NBA finals. good pick here. You cannot speak about each season from such a long career. That would become repetitive pretty quickly. Other than that we find out about his private life a bit, some nice anecdotes about his housekeeping troubles. Occasionally, the film gets a bit too melodramatic and I thought the animation about how Nowitzki paid Gschwindner's bail looked like it came from a student film. However, one needs to dig really deep to find flaws with this movie. It is pretty much told in chronology, which I am usually a fan of too, but that is a personal preference. We get to see interviews with family, friends and comrades on Nowitzki's journey and significant NBA personalities (Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Michael Finley, David Stern, Don Nelson..). Even if you followed Nowitzki's paths the way I did, you will still find out a lot new things, like the way Don Nelson came to Germany to convince Nowitzki to join the Mavericks and how he was surprised there was no huge group of journalists attending him. Finally i would like to say a few words about director Sebastian Dehnhardt, one of Germany's most prolific documentary makers these days. Sports and the Nazi years were probably his two main areas of competence so far. He made several documentaries on football and also one on the Klitschko brothers three years ago. I am not sure if you will get an interest into basketball and the NBA by watching this, if you haven't had one before, but for everybody else Dehnhardt's most recent work here is the perfect film to watch if you want to get in the mood for the new NBA season which is about to begin in a couple weeks.

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• Best and ever documentary of Dirk

  iameastern2015-05-02

  A perfect shot for us to see Dirk journey from Germany to the NBA, from a nobody to a most distinguished international player in the league, and all the ups and downs throughout his career. This gave us an introduction of how his style of game is built and has evolved. Also, it depicts every aspect of his life on and off the court, and let us understand him for more than a player from the mouths of every close people around him. The biggest takeaway I would say is "being in" the process and story how Dallas changed Dirk and Dirk changed Dallas by the director's art of work. Definitely a must-see for Dirk's and Dallas Mavericks fans.

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• I'm not a basketball fan at all, but still found it interesting.

  MartinHafer2015-12-12

  I know practically nothing about basketball over the last few decades. Over the years, I have become less and less interested in the sport. So, when I saw this documentary about Dirk Nowiski, I had no idea who he is--even though he's an NBA superstar. I say this because if you aren't a basketball fan, you still might find this worth your time. The film is a documentary about the career Dirk. It also, at times, is really the story of Dirk and his mentor and personal coach, Holger. The emphasis of the film is that Dirk's success in the NBA has been due to very hard work, discipline and practice, practice and more practice with Holger. It's rather inspiring to see an athlete with such dedication and who doesn't seem like a prima dona and who doesn't live for endorsements and babes! Well worth seeing and interesting.

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• A great movie about a men who is good at throwing a ball into a net

  deepest-blue-12018-07-16

  As the most of us I know Dirk Nowitzki just as a baskteball player but not the story of his career. This movie gives a nice view behind the facade of a career of a humble, extremely ambitious and super sympathetic athlete and some facts about it are really fascinating (Holger). The style of the movie, I think also great, a great mix of original recordings and comments from the present go hand in hand on the career journey of this exceptional athlete. So from my point of view this is a must for every basketball fan.

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